james452

A Beginner’s Guide to the Gym: Everything You Need to Know Go read that. It's probably one of Steve's best articles. Another suggestion is to keep going to group classes, just find new ones you enjoy at your new gym. For some people, they need external accountability, a.k.a someone to design a program and to make sure they go (hence why people invest in a personal trainer). I myself did Crossfit for 3 years and having Coaches who regularly check up on you and other athletes there to talk and compete with, it made it a lot easier to go.

I guess you need to ask yourself, are there better, more fun, more important things you could spend the money on? You say you might have kids soon. It could be worth keeping that money to spend on them. Or you could use it to hire a Nanny once a week or so which will let you go out to a restaurant with your partner and do those things which people miss out on when they have kids.

Have you looked into getting Vivofit Jrs for your girls? From what I know, it tracks whether they are engaging in physical activity, and even when they do their chores. You as the parent can then set rewards such as 30 minutes of television or they get to have a friend come over to play. If you don't want to fork out the money for them, why not look at it anyway, and try to implement the principles of it.

From my experience, the most important thing for running is to learn the skill of running. Most people (myself included when I started running), go outside to run and smash the pavement (usually through a heel strike), and end up with shin splints only a few weeks into running. If you focus on running as a skill, learn how to POSE or Chi run (basically forefoot strike with a heel kiss), then you'll be able to run faster, for longer, and be injury free. Power Speed Endurance (site and book) would be a good place to learn running as a skill. Combine that with basic strength training (squats, lunges, core work), and you'll strengthen your muscles such that they're less likely to get injured. Now I don't actually know if Strength Running teaches exactly that (my guess is it does). So I think it would be worth reading up on. However we need to stop collecting underpants, so here's my suggestions on what you should do Download Zombies Run or C25k app and go for a run right now. Pay attention to how you feel during your run After your run, as a reward, go read up on strength running (and maybe purchase the course) Next run, implement skill/SR stuff. The point of the above is you start running and start developing the habit of running. Then you collect more underpants. Hope this helps

My Scales LIE! I moved the scale around in the bathroom so instead of showing 92kgs (there's no way I've lost that much weight), it now shows a more accurate 98kgs. This lines up more with how my clothes fit and the belt holes I use. Regardless I'll be sure to use the scale next time I go to the gym to see where my weight actually is. My reasoning for why the scales weren't accurate is to do with the floor in the bathroom. It's vinyl flooring instead of tiles, so the surface is a bit soft which can take weight away from your scale. Unfortunately there's no hard flat ground in my house, so maybe I'll ditch my household scale and only ever use the gym scale. Trying new things Yesterday's activity was a game of tennis. A few mates at uni asked if I wanted to play and I immediately said yes. I played tennis for 10 years when I was younger so it was great to get back out on the court. Gym consistency Been to the gym twice this week (and my body is feeling the pain from it). Today is my scheduled gym day, but my girlfriend and I are going to do a swim pool instead (mostly because the pool was closed on Monday because of New Years). One very important lesson I learned is that if you make a training schedule, you always train on that day, even if it's just 5 pushups. This allows me fluidity, such as I can replace a run session with tennis, or a gym session with swimming. As long as I do some training on the days I'm meant to train, then I'll easily be able to maintain the training habit which in the long run will equal results.

If I was in this situation, I would explain how much better my life is now because I live a fit and healthy lifestyle. I personally enjoy life more when I compete in races that take me to new and different places (plus it's fun to say that I ran on the freeway).

Here's a quick summary of my experience with weight loss and calorie counting Calorie counting by recording every meal in MyFitnessPal: Virtually no success Meal planning based of macronutrient breakdown: Some success Eating when I'm hungry and ensuring that my meals have a good mix of protein, veggies, and fat: HUGE SUCCESS! Therefore I'm a huge proponent on eating based on how your body feels, rather than what MyFitnessPal says. I think it's important to still focus on the quality of your food. Some of the meals you mentioned seem to be a bit high in sugar content. Could you maybe swap our the sugar in your oats and put in some butter instead? My one suggestion for intermittent fasting, it's a lot easier to do if you eat a high fat low carb diet (like keto). This is speaking from my own experience. If I did intermittent fasting on a moderate carb moderate fat diet, I had to force myself to wait until 12pm to eat. Now on a keto diet, some days I won't feel hungry at all until around 1pm.

I see it as an advanced lifting tool. It might be worth considering if you bench over 300lbs and have recently stalled in your progress.

First of all, congrats on going to the gym consistently for 6+ months. Keeping up a habit like that isn't easy work. It sounds like you enjoy experimenting with your training plan and my suggestion is to try out training 4 days a week for 1 month, and if it works, then stick to it, otherwise go back to your old plan. You're going to do this fitness thing for the rest of your life so there's no need to be stuck in the one training plan all your life.

If you enjoyed lifting weights, then go lift weights 3 times a week, and on your off days, go for a walk around your neighbourhood. A 30-60 minute gym session three times a week coupled with a 30-60 minute walk every other day will do wonders for you.

Have you read Steve's article A Beginner's Guide to the Gym? If not then that will be the best thing you read today. The key point from it is to go to the gym and do something very basic. Over time, you try out something new (like maybe doing some squats). You effectively build up the confidence in going to the gym to the point where you know what you are doing every time you go there.

Try adding in push up descents. Do as many regular pushups as you can, then focus on descents by lowering yourself to the ground very very very slowly (10-20 seconds). It's a simple thing yet it does wonders for building pushup and even pullup strength.

This challenge has the ultimate end goal of completing a mini triathlon on Sunday February 4th. That's right, on the last day of the challenge. The Race Swim 250m, Bike 10km, Run 3km. A "short" race which will be my first triathlon in 4 years (I only just realised that it's been 4 years since I've done one). My Current State Last month was the first time in a while that I've actually been losing weight. Despite having a reasonably good diet, I lost little weight over the previous 12 months. For a while I wasn't sure what was wrong, now I think the missing piece of the puzzle is that I wasn't active enough. Over the last month, I've been doing more walking (though still a small amount), but I've added swimming and cycling into my training. In fact, I went 6 weeks without going to the gym and instead I did 2 training sessions a week. With this, I dropped around 4kgs last month which suggests to me that weight loss is a lot easier for me if I'm doing some cardio. My Quests Project 90kgs Weigh less than 90kgs (currently at 96kgs) Be in ketosis for 1 month Become a pro triathlete Complete Mini Triathlon on February 4th Swim once a week Ride once a week Run twice a week Gym/Strength and Conditioning twice a week Work like a machine Change my work schedule so I focus on one project each day of the week Ride my bike to/from work at least once a week Future proofing Create side income by choosing one of the following two options: Offer tutoring services and resources in Mathematics Start a blog on Skill Learning and build a strong subscriber list Quests Explained in Detail Project 90kgs I accept that this will take 2-3 months to complete. If it happens quicker, good, means I can focus on other goals sooner. If not, that's okay, as long as I progress towards it. 90kgs is actually the first milestone in my weight loss journey. I think my final weight will sit somewhere under 85kgs, but right now, I have this first goal. Based on past experience, being under 90kgs means I can push myself to complete a 10km run without damaging my body. It's effectively the first point where exercise doesn't feel like it's a huge struggle and I don't get out of breath easily. To achieve this, there are three main things I'll be doing Stay in ketosis by saying no to all junk food Completing 3-5 workouts a week Going for short walks almost every day with my partner I just recently read Mark Sisson's Keto Reset book. In it, he suggests easing into keto by eating low carb for 21 days, then sticking to strict keto for 6 weeks. Until the 21st of January, I'm in that low carb phase. However, I can push it a bit harder without too much effort by focusing on saying no to junk food. This effectively means for 21 days, no chocolate, no potato chips, no ice cream (the three sugary junk foods that I eat). This will train my willpower, something I haven't done in a few years. Become a pro triathlete Over 6 years, the sport I loved doing the most was running and triathlons. Hence I got back into triathlon training last challenge and aim to continue it this challenge (and ideally for many years). I'm following Power Speed Endurance (PSE PRO) workouts (formally Crossfit Endurance). This works better for me and allows me to have a life outside of training. Currently I've been focusing a lot on skill development, especially with the swim. I barely did any skill/drill work for swimming yet now, the warmup + skill work is my workout (I don't even do the main set). In only a few sessions my swimming skill is a lot better. I now have a good rotation through the water, and I'm working on making my catch better. One thing that has slowed me down is my breath whilst swimming. I find I'm out of breath too quickly, but that might be because my workouts range from 1000m to 1500m of swimming. I guess I break down around the 800m mark, which is more than the 250m I need to do for my triathlon. I put running on hold, because I was hurting my lower legs too easily, a consequence of holding on to extra weight and poor technique. This week, I'll do some Couch to 5k workouts for running coupled with skill work. Nice and simple so I don't overdo it. Work like a machine I'm doing a little experiment this month where I change up what work I do for my PhD on different days. For example, Mondays I work on my beta oscillation project. Tuesdays I focus on Data Analysis. Wednesdays are personal days/business focused. Thursdays are for spatial models. Friday for writing. I find I get work done quicker if I have a shorter, but highly focused timeframe to work on it. I think this will work well. Future Proofing I've spent so much time following sites like Nerd Fitness, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Live your Legend, that I'm convinced that once I finish my PhD, I don't want to enter the workforce, I'd rather be a freelance consultant and/or run an online business to help others. My main motivation for this is so I have extra time in my day which I can use to enjoy life rather than waste away in the office. The two things I mentioned above cover what I'm passionate about, Mathematics, teaching, and learning. I've attempted to get this started in the past, but fear stopped me from sending my work to people and getting their opinions on it. This year, that won't happen. I'll pick an idea, stick to it, and focus my time on promoting my material to people who'd be willing to read it. Final Thoughts If you can't guess by all the things I wrote, I really enjoy goal setting and making lists of things to do. It gives me something to dream about which motivates me to actually do the work I need to achieve my goals. If you want help setting goals, just shoot me a message, I'd be happy to help with it. The most important thing I've learnt when setting goals is to work on one of them immediately after making them. For me, that's to head home early to go to the gym with my partner and do an Overhead press workout followed by a keto eggplant lasagna

That's super awesome! I felt the need to add a picture to this post so I found the below. You could also think of 55lbs as the size of a 5 year old.

I lost some weight!!! YAY Losing any weight this year has been a struggle. At the start of the year I was seeing a therapist because my food habits was depressing me and I wanted to work on them. Took a while to separate my emotions from food. I feel like now I don't emotionally eat, instead I willingly choose to eat something that is not as healthy, and that's okay because I don't do it all the time. For the last few months, I felt like my diet was pretty good. Stuck to keto most of the time yet was seeing very little results. The difference the last couple of weeks, I've been doing some swimming and cycling, so I think adding the cardio into my routine is what was missing. This makes sense with my weight loss in the past, generally whenever I added cardio, I found myself to easily lose weight. Doing weights kept me strong, but made it difficult to lose fat whilst still recovering enough from each workout. Hopefully now my Ranger routine will balance that. Right now, I'm at 96.5kgs. I was around 99 kgs about 2-3 weeks ago. I'll be keeping my diet mostly keto. Christmas will be difficult, my family is Italian, and my brother-in-law is Greek, hence we end up doing big Xmas celebrations on both sides (last year we had a Greek christmas eve and an Italian christmas day). I think I'll focus most of my food on high protein stuff. There's no doubt I'll stuff my face full of food, but if I can make it mostly protein, then that will limit the fat gain.

Things that didn't happen last week Did not train more than twice Things that did happen Spent more time with my partner Spent more time with my cat (who had abandonment issues because we went on holiday for 2 weeks and she was worried we were leaving her) Went on a group bike ride with coworkers (which was my longest bike ride in 3 years) Getting better at being a swimmer Technically, my partner and I haven't been to the gym in 4 weeks. 2 of those weeks was holidays, the other 2 was life getting in the way. However I have swam a few times and my skills are getting better. Swimming My swimming skills are pretty good so I've been working on improving endurance. However my skills certainly can be improved (the problem with being a self taught swimmer). Yesterday at the pool, I did a lot of rotation drills and this certainly exposed some holes in my swimming technique. I'll continue focusing my training on drills and will be sure to watch a bunch of youtube videos to see if I'm doing it right. Cycling I felt like after Saturday's group ride that it gave me a big endorphin rush. Hence I plan on including more cycling into my schedule. At the moment I am meant to complete 1-2 cycling workouts a week, but I'm thinking of riding to and from work again (only 5kms one way). The only problem is work finishes tomorrow and I'll be off for 1.5 weeks. New Gear!!! Arrives later this week Purchased some new bike shoes and some swimming aids which I'll be excited to try them out when they arrive. I'm definitely liking being back into proper triathlon training. My goal is to do a mini triathlon at the end of January and I'm looking to be on track for it. Ideally my brother would also compete (doing a sprint event), however he may have recently damaged his finger in a workplace accident so I take it he won't be competing for a few months. The Week Ahead 2 more days of work Need to complete some problem sets Will use the time to install R and will look into some data science courses Girlfriend's sister comes home from America for first time in 2 years Hence I'll be spending a lot of time with her family Time off work Videogames I have the Zelda Expansion pack to complete and Super Mario Odyssey. Once that's done, I'll probably play the Mario and Rabbids Expansion pack Training

I usually don't set reading goals because I generally have a good reading habit down. That being said, if I had to think of goals right now, they'd be something like this. Finish reading the entirety of the Marvel Ultimate Universe Read books 2-5 of A Song of Ice and Fire before the final season of Game of Thrones airs Let's stop there, those two goals are big enough.

Start easy with walking. Are there any trails near your house that you've always wanted to explore? If so, why not make a day of exploring it with your fiance? My partner and I love hiking on trails together. The next best thing to work on is probably running. If you've never run before, go search for the Couch to 5k program. If you have access to a gym, you could always use a stationary bike that allows you to rest your arms. I advise against using a regular bike because if you can't put pressure on your wrists, then controlling a bike would be dangerous. At home, you could do some lunges and squats without holding on to any weights.

Sounds like you're looking for more of a lifestyle watch. Every watch can now track steps, and a lot of them will track heart rate. It then depends on what other features you are looking for. Three good lifestyle watches to consider are Garmin Vivosmart 3 Garmin Vivomove HR Misfit Vapor The Garmin ones allow you to upload apps, and the vivomove looks more like a proper watch so it looks more fashionable and probably goes with your work outfit better (assuming you work in an office). The Misfit Vapor is rather new and allows you to store music so you can listen to songs whilst on a long run without having to take your phone with you. Now if you were looking for a performance watch, a.k.a you do a lot of running and you want to take it seriously, then I would recommend the Garmin Forerunner 235. It's great for running, records heart rate, tracks steps, you can add many apps to it, and the best thing, it's pretty affordable now (and you can usually find good deals for it around Christmas time which is now). Clearly other models like the 935 are better and do a lot more, but the 235 is cheaper and would be better as an entry level compared to the expensive ones.

Holiday Recap Got home from holiday a couple of days ago. Let's just say that having a break has made me a lot more relaxed and happy My partner and I had the minimalist holiday of sticking to one area. We stayed at a little place near the beach and spent almost every day at the beach. As for my holiday quests, we didn't do as much walking, but we did go on a few hikes and saw a few waterfalls We kept out diets pretty good. Probably 75% keto. As for the conference, I met plenty of new people and learned about many new areas of Maths (plus I won an award for my talk ) I read one and a half books during our holiday, and many comics. Technically I didn't 100% any of my holiday quests, but I felt successful so I'm happy with that New Quests Now it's time to work on my other quests for the next 2 weeks. Looking back at what I wrote, I felt like these goals were ambitious, but I'm happy to stick with them. Become the best triathlete ever! Complete 5 Power Speed Endurance Tri (PSE/formerly Crossfit Endurance) workouts a week (2 S&C, 3 sports sessions) Swim 500m continuously in a pool Prepare for the best year ever Reflect on the goals I set last year (see what I did, what I didn't do, what I learned) Set new goals that will allow me to be the person I want to be Did my first workout yesterday, a swim in the pool alternating 50m sprints with 50m kicks. These felt a lot stronger than 3 weeks ago. One thing I'm going to do is buy a good quality kickboard. The one I got was cheap and bends too much and hurts my arm. I'm thinking of getting the kick-buoy hybrid, I've used one of them before and they are pretty cool. On top of that, I'm purchasing some new bike gear (jersey, saddle bag, pump, shoes). After my last flat tyre fiasco, I realised my gear wasn't good enough so I'm getting some new stuff. Already ordered a new jersey off Amazon Australia (yay it finally launched here). I'm looking forward to the next 2 weeks. Work finishes Wednesday next week, then my partner's sister is home so we'll be spending a lot of time with them. Basically I had 2 weeks holiday, I get 1.5 weeks of work, then another 2 week holiday so yay

Thanks I should add that I'll have very limited internet access whilst away so my next post will probably be once I get back from holidays.

This challenge will be split into two parts for me 2 week holiday in NZ 2 weeks of work/xmas prep I have this new rule for when I go on holidays, I don't bother trying to find a gym to do a workout, instead, I call myself an explorer and spend as much time as possible walking and hiking and exploring the new city I'm in. I did this last time when I visited America, which resulted in me walking over 100,000 steps in a week, twice. I aim to beat that. Hence I will have two sets of quests for this 4 week challenge, the first is for my 2 weeks of holiday, the 2nd is for the 2 weeks I'm back home. However there will be some overlap (for example I'll be attempting to keep a keto based diet, however I accept this might be difficult when travelling. Explore the world (fitness goal) Walk at least 10,000 steps a day in New Zealand Lose fat Eat keto for all meals (except for meals provided at the conference) Work my mind Read the 6 new books I bought last week during the 2 weeks of holidays Expand my network Talk to at least 5 new people a day at the NZ conference There is a two part reason for going to New Zealand My girlfriend and I want a holiday I am going to a Maths conference and giving a talk (3 day conference) Hence it is important for me to remember that this is partly a business trip, and the reason I am going to the conference is so I can expose myself to new areas of Mathematics. There is only one name I recognise at the conference, so to get the most out of it, I definitely should talk to more people As for the holiday part, my partner and I are choosing to do the minimalist thing, and stick to two parts of New Zealand, Auckland and it's beaches. We are going to explore a lot (there are many trails and waterfalls nearby), we are going to do a lot of reading, and mostly do a lot of reflecting and relax from our busy lifestyles. I understand that eating keto whilst on holidays is hard, but we are staying in a secluded area, so we have no choice but to cook our own meals, and I am happy with that. The only times I don't have a choice are at the conference, and the one day where we visit Hobbiton. At that point, I'll do the best I can, but I won't starve myself. Quests after holidays After the holiday, I have 1.5 weeks of work before we shut down for the xmas break. My girlfriend's sister will be home from America so it feels like I'll be involved in a lot of family things then. That being said, I intend to maintain a fitness lifestyle, and to take advantage of the extra time I have during the xmas break. Become the best triathlete ever! Complete 5 Power Speed Endurance Tri (PSE/formerly Crossfit Endurance) workouts a week (2 S&C, 3 sports sessions) Swim 500m continuously in a pool Prepare for the best year ever Reflect on the goals I set last year (see what I did, what I didn't do, what I learned) Set new goals that will allow me to be the person I want to be I started triathlon training last week, yet my fitness levels aren't great. There are a few reasons for it, but the biggest factor right now is my weight. Being a 100kg male with about 25% bodyfat makes it harder to be a triathlete, but it's still doable. My focus is on easing into training and getting that weight down. My goal is to complete a mini triathlon in January regardless of where my weight is. The only item I need to clear first is to swim 500m continuously in a pool. The bike distance is easy for me to do, and I can always walk on the run, but for the swim, you have to swim so that's the most important thing.

3 weeks without updating this so I guess it's time for a 4 week challenge review. I consider the challenge a success because I learned new things about myself and where I want my training to be. Mindset This was focused on "Never miss two in a row". Yes I missed two in a row, but that didn't mean I had to give up entirely. I made conscious choices to skip a workout, or a conscious choice to eat chips or have a piece of cake, and most of the time that was limited to one day and not two in a row. Lose Fat I'll summarise this in a few key points Weight on the scale didn't change Belt size didn't change Did successfully eat keto about.....90% of the time I can now easily do Intermittent fasting if needed Tracking stopped a couple of weeks back The long response: I have no idea if my body is properly in keto or not, but I do know I eat keto based foods, my body feels good, I can exercise without dying of energy, I can skip breakfast and feel really fine and keep focused (as opposed to the past where I couldn't function if I was hungry), so how my body feels, it's in a good starting place. I would like the weight to shift as it is physically affecting my ability to run efficiently. Get Strong 1.5 weeks ago I switched back to Power Speed Endurance (formerly Crossfit Endurance). I just realised it was more fun for me, and meant I could work out everyday if I wanted to, but didn't have to. Training is fun for me and I like when my life is set up around that. The other reason for changing was the fact my knee kept playing up with squats. I really should see a physio about it, but let's just say I changed insurance companies and they're being difficult with recognising waiting periods which has kind of stopped me from fixing it up. Blogging I kept the habit up so I could write one good quality article. That has stopped, although I now have subscribers, so I feel like it's useful for me to write something else Main outcomes/revelations Although I sometimes change to a warrior lifestyle, my true enjoyment lies in being a ranger and participating in endurance sports, so next challenge I'll be in the Rangers guild. My daily lifestyle matters more than what I do for training. To this extent, I now have a standing desk at work which I use a lot, and my girlfriend and I go for walks most days. My hope is that this lifestyle change will improve my body, reduce pain, and ultimately allow me to enjoy life by being as physically active as possible. Thanks for the help Warriors, next challenge onwards you'll find me over in the Rangers section. Cheers

It is amazing how many people don't know what asking is. My similar experience to this was a guy going to set up inside the squat rack, with me standing in front of the rack, with weight already on the bar, with my bag sitting in the middle of the rack (effectively ALL the signs that someone is using that rack).

Fixing up my lifestyle I've been having knee problems, especially when I squat, hence I changed from high bar to low bar back squat a few weeks back (last time I did this my knee pain disappeared straight away). Currently, there is less knee pain, but it's still there (on my to do list is see a physio to help loosen up the area). Yesterday I purchased a knee brace to wear at the gym. This certainly helped reduce the problem but not eliminate it. However I did feel less pain walking around with it on, and no pain whilst deadlifting, so I'll be using it during rehab. The more important issue is my inactive lifestyle. 8 hours a day sitting at my desk is finally catching up to me. Whilst squatting yesterday, my right knee was okay, but my left hip was really tight, hence creating a weird imbalance. The hip tightness is definitely from sitting down and I am tired of doing jobs that require me to sit down many hours a day. Hence my solution is to ask for a standing desk. What has stopped me is that I'm a PhD student, so although I get a desk in a shared office, I'm not exactly staff so I can access some staff benefits but not all of them. But two PhD students have standing desks, and when I tell them about the back/knee/hip pain I'm getting from sitting down too much, then they surely will need to give me a standing desk (I'm even prepared to get a Doctor's note for it). I actually do use a standing desk at home for my computer, it's just that I rarely use my computer these days (instead I spend time with my girlfriend and cat and do lots of reading). And I have a copy of Kelly Starrett's Deskbound so I'm all prepared for using one at work. Anyway wish me luck in convincing the office people to give me a standing desk Update: All the success. They had a spare desk attachment (the ones you just place on your desk and raise their height). I have it all set up now