hybrid756

Hi! It must be tough travelling a lot and keeping some kind of a routine, there are so many bodyweight & outdoor exercises on the blog, which is awesome I'm kinda new myself (signed up about 3 weeks ago), and I must say this is the most positive, ass-kicking community I've ever joined for getting fit & healthy! I love that the whole focus is on what you can gain, what you can do more of, how much more awesome you can be So you're doing a respawn, that is badass! And it sounds like you've got good clear ideas about your direction, which is half the battle. WIN And your old and grey comment made me think of this... so gonna be me too someday (if I'm lucky!).

Me! I'm either working or not working (I don't know, I'm zero hours and don't know if work's gonna be open) and just sat here procrastinating studying and hitting the gym tomorrow again, so I'd happily participate before the next big one. Could use me some skill points

Uhhh... what the crap?? I just measured myself and I'm the same weight, the same bf%, but my chest and waist have gone down 1 inch each and my hips have gone down by 1/2 an inch. I've been checking those for over a year and they never go below 36-38-45, now 35-37-44.5! Not looking for an explanation for this just had to note it because it's never happened before. Plus, I woke up with no more DOMS (damn you tight hamstrings!!), and no plague (w00t!). Off to work on a spreadsheet to track my progress (and, duh... study. My programming's well behind). The only macros I'm working on right now are gonna be in Excel, but still...

I picked up my first barbell last week, and have been having dreams of going back to the gym and lifting really heavy weights, lol. All I know is I wake up feeling awesome. Your post makes me wonder if that'll continue indefinitely...

Thanks, mediaguy! That sounds delicious. A whole chicken would go a long way, and I can pick one up for about 4 quid Time to invest in a meat thermometer, I think. I see you can get them on ebay pretty cheaply. Part of my problem is the OMG is it done yet thing, so without that I'm sure I'd be levelling up my cooking in no time

Well, since that's the 21st over I guess that's time to sign off on this challenge! I'm gonna post notes up in here until my new one begins in a few weeks What I've got out of this (5 points because I only did 3 weeks): - 2 STR for starting Stronglifts (1 point for finding a program I like and I can do, 1 point for lifting more than I ever have before!). - 0 DEX because, well... That's for later. - 1 WIS I already got for working out a useful plan. - 1 STA for being able to run for one minute. - 0 CON because I haven't worked on my nutrition at all. - 1 CHA for getting over myself and making my way to the free weights section Next challenge will be working on better workout recovery, increasing strength if I can (learning form and recovery comes first though), and focussing on my food tracking idea to get myself to a place where I can start losing fat without backpedaling 2 years of binge eating recovery work. Onwards! Again!

Hi inespd! I second/third/nth the Stronglifts suggestion. I spent years on and off joining gyms and getting sold the cardio & high rep low weights with machines combo over and over, until I hated gyms altogether. But since reading NF (and that's a lot of reading, to convince myself to try the barbell), I started Stronglifts last week, my first go with the barbell. It was the best feeling! I was so scared when I walked in there, I felt so intimidated. But once I got started, it felt like the most normal thing ever. Trust me, it's worth it! Good luck!

Now, I thought I knew how to EAT, but I tried to eat 2 pork chops the other day and it was a mighty struggle!! As someone who cannot cook at all (I mean, I can throw a steak in a pan until it's pink in the middle and eat it with my bare hands, but recipes...?? *confused face*) I'd definitely be interested in seeing what other Assassins are eating. I think the throwing star preparation technique might be a bit advanced for me right now, but I'd love to have something to aspire to

Thanks, mediaguy! I can't wait to get stuck in with the next challenge FWIW, my cardio capacity is in the bin... I think I'll need to stay at the same level that I did the other day, because my legs & shoulders are STILL aching, hamstrings feel super tight, and to top it off I've come down with the plague *angry face* I know I want to be lifting much heavier and I'm impatient to become super-fit right away, but it looks like my focus right now should be on teaching my body to do the workout it just did, but more efficiently, and with quicker recovery. I want to be able to hit the weights every other day but my CNS has something to say about it (do more practice on your form and balance), my endocrine system has something to say about it (figure out which foods feel like the best fuel for what you're doing), and my immune system has had A LOT to say about it (sleep more, drink more water, cope with stress better). So yeah, no extra plates for me just yet. Once I can do that same level of workout every other day without busting myself up, I can ramp things up! I'm hoping I can be there by the end of January but hey... It happens when it happens. A barbell is for life, not just for Xmas And no way I could go near any more cardio after that... Hell, I was dozing off in the shower.

Right, so... the whole food thing. I've been eating at maintenance for a year and a half, but I don't know what that is in calories and macros. It's 2 years since I started recovery from binge eating disorder, and I suspect that the initial 30lbs I got shot of were binge weight that I used to maintain on top of what I have now. Recovery has gone / is going extremely well, but every time I try to track my food intake, I go nuts and relapse. Hmmmmm. Now if diet's 80% of this thing (or thereabouts) then I need to find a way round it. Finally I find a use for evernote!! Instead of trying to add foods into My Fitness Pal as I go, I'm just going to write something down when I eat it, just WHAT IT IS. I'm eating 'normally' (whatever that means for me) and it's taken me so long, and I ain't gonna screw that up. I figure that if I can add up my calories and macros a week behind and average them out, I can find out what the biggest culprits are in screwing my progress. Then, if I want to eat that thing, I can just be extra judicious with my intuitive eating techniques around that food, and find out if I really want it or if I just want an hour of gaming or a chat or a walk or a sleep or whatever. In the hope that my calorie intake will start to adjust when I look it up again a few weeks later, and my eating habits should naturally adjust over time. Long way for a shortcut, but whatever. I just feel that if I decouple the act of tracking a food from the act of actually EATING that food, it won't send me headlong into a binge cycle. Thinking out loud here. This could work.

I know for sure now where I want to be. In the Assassin's Guild! Under a bar! Perusing the steak section of the local supermarket! Studying maths and java! Running for more than a minute (maybe)! *dons cape*

Actually, ignore all that, I know where I want to go, so I shall go there! CONFIDENCE!

I have a question million questions I joined 3 weeks in, and have just started to settle into a bit of momentum with what I'm doing. Ultimately I feel like an Assassin (now there's something I never thought I'd say), but my goals are strength related, and I'm going to keep battering away at them over the 'party season' (I work through this time of year so not really bothered about it). Do I go to the assassins? Do I go to the warriors? Do I stay here because I joined in late? And do I do it when the next challenge starts, or when this one finishes? Sorry for all the questions!

This is awesome. It truly is. I can't wait to come back in a year and post again! Today I squatted and benched a 15kg bar 5 x 5 and deadlifted 25kg 5 x 5. And I'm telling anyone who will listen!! Thanks to everyone who's posted here. Everyone's progress is super cool and proof that it can be done!

Hey mitch_dee! Thanks for the encouragement Today was a great success, I left the gym today grinning from ear to ear (and slightly wobbly in the legs...). Sooo... my gym is awesome. I went at about 2.30pm thinking it'd be quite quiet, and it was. It's enormous!! They have the whole Olympic weights setup in one room, it looks really well kitted out. I didn't go in there, but headed upstairs where they have all the cardio gear and machines, and another huge free weights area with lighter weights and plates. Hit the treadmill first for a warm up (15 mins including one whole minute of running, HOLY CRAP!! - Not what I was focusing on, but I was still a bit cold and wanted to get the blood flowing a bit without spending all day walking on the treadmill lol). Looking petrified, I wandered over to the weights section feeling very confused. Which bar do I start with? Which rack do I use? Which way round does the bench go? (Yeah, I got it the wrong way round...). Picked up a bar that felt like about 5lbs and was still looking confused when one of the staff came over to help. I told her the lifts I was going for today (squat, bench, deadlift... because the form for those felt easiest for me to remember so at least I had a plan) and she provided me with a 15kg bar and pointed me in the direction of the 5kg training plates, showed me how to use the rack, got me to do some reps until my form was good, showed me which way round the bench went (d'oh!) and off I went! I know I said I'd do 1 x 5 of each, but once I got the hang of it, I couldn't help but do 5 x 5 anyway So for my first time lifting anything more than a 5kg dumbbell... 1st workout results! (I'll post them here to keep track of them). 5 x 5 squat 15kg 5 x 5 bench 15kg 5 x 5 deadlift 25kg (I don't think I should be doing that many deadlifts normally, but it felt light enough and I wanted the practice. Promise I'll drop that down if I need to as the weight goes up!) After years of joining gyms on and off and busting my ass trying to do mega cardio when I have no endurance then feeling ashamed of my body and hating myself and going off to binge eat my way up another 10lbs while declaring that I HATEZ TEH GYMZ so many times... this was an absolute breath of fresh air! I have NEVER enjoyed a gym workout before, but I left there today feeling like I owned the world! So different to have a game plan that goes: warm up - lift - feel badass - stretch - shower - leave. I can't wait to go back You heavy lifters have a new convert! Came home, had a lovely peppered medium rare steak with a few chips and a pile of roasted carrots, and passed out on the sofa watching Mr Hybrid playing Shadow of Mordor. Conversation went: Him: "hey babe, you want a shot?" Me: *snoring* It's midnight, so I'm off for an early night (on my schedule that's early). I said I'd do 30 mins cardio afterwards as I need to work it into my routine somewhere, but afterwards I just felt totally drained and relaxed and was like, I'm outta here for the day. My fitness will improve and I can work it in over time. I like a nice swim and a sauna so I can get onto that if I'm sore or stiff a day or two after. And I should point out that my gym looks like something out of the Crystal Maze, which earns extra awesome points. I'm working tomorrow, Friday, Saturday. If it's open on Sunday I'll head back then. I'm not sure if it's open on Monday. If it's not, I'll go on Tuesday. But now I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to lift next. Thinking squat, overhead press or barbell row (or both? does that work?) and... something else? I'll read up and see what I need to be doing next. And after that, starting with the tiny 1.25kg plates, I'll start adding weight to the bar and go from there! I feel like I've just joined some secret clan of awesome badassery that I didn't realise existed I know that was a mini-dissertation... SO MUCH AWESOME. I wish I'd done this years ago.

Gah! Total n00b gamer experience, that last post was me shouting "Halp!" I'm getting shot! How do I hide behind this burnt out car?!" So. I know why I didn't do BBWW again. I hate working out at home. I want to know my bf% estimate because I've been faffing around for a year and a half at the same weight. After trying to get my hard hat to fit and get the workout done, and wondering WTF was up with me, I figured *gasp!* either it was too hard for me, or I don't know how to recover properly. So for 10 days I flailed about figuring out what the problem was. First! I am more unfit than I thought. Good, I have more progress I can make than I thought. Second! I want to be a gym person. I want fitness as a hobby. Third! I'd been slipping with my intuitive eating (goal is for it eventually just to become Eating). Fourth! I want somewhere I can escape to work out, not in my bedroom, where I study and sleep and play video games. Fifth! I want something productive to track that's not food (that makes me binge, I know it's not for me). Sixth! I need to find a hard hat that fits my head better, by eliminating obstacles that are stopping me from working out when I want to. 1. I faced the fact that I'm starting from nothing with fitness, and decided I shall start with the basic compound lifts at 1 x 5 with the bar. If I can do 5 x 5 with the bar in 6 weeks, I'll be happy. Goal is to work up to being able to start Stronglifts 5 x 5 when I'm ready (whenever that is). I also want to incorporate some HIIT later, but at the moment, I'm going with a moderate amount of moderate cardio after my lifts. 2. I joined my local uni's gym. As a OU student / NUS member I get full membership for £20/month. I do tutorials at this uni every now and again, and the gym gets good reviews, and I've always wondered about it when walking past, so that's that sorted. 3. I started taking a few minutes before eating to work out if I really want what I'm eating, or if I'm just bored/tired/emotional/whatever. Result (because I've had a lot of practice with this way of eating, yay progress!) was less cookies, more meat and veg. I could live off salmon, pork chops, steak, and roasted carrots and peppers. One ginger biscuit last night and that felt like enough. I love not bingeing Tasty tasty 4. See 2. 5. While shopping after work last night, I happened across a new scale that measures bf%, checked and it gets good reviews online. £20. Decided it's worth the investment. I can't afford any other type of bf% monitoring, but it's hardly going to say I'm 22% when I'm 42%. I'm 47.8%! Gah! Well, knowledge is power. Yay. 6. I currently get about using all day tickets on the bus, so when I'm going out, I like to get everything done in one day, to minimise cost. I did a bit of research, and I can get a student weekly ticket for the price of 3 day tickets, so I've grabbed my student card and off I go. That way I can go to the gym whenever I want. Went to bed at a reasonable time, so that I can get up and in the gym during the day before everyone else piles in after uni/work. Put myself on day shifts this weekend so I can keep my sleeping pattern on this schedule easier. Prepared my gym bag with all the stuff I need to just grab it and head out. So, today is gym exploration, warm up, 1 x 5 squat, bench and deadlift with the bar (because I've done similar with dumbbells so these are the ones I'm most confident with getting my form right on my first day at the gym. Still terrified though!) then 30 mins of moderate pace cardio, stretching, then go home. I got a book so I can monitor my lifting progress. I plan to go twice a week as that's all I'm ready for, and get some walking/swimming in on my days off. Daunted but excited! And I think I should have WIS +1 for figuring this out

Gah! Damn rats keep biting me in the leg. Got called in to work on Friday until god knows when o'clock, so that was that day fecked. Yesterday was pretty wiped out from work and need to get cracking on 2 uni assignments that are due in on Thursday which I need to do more work on to get the results I want. No moping about though! Yesterday, I went for my walk / 9 second intervals run, and managed 2 intervals of 30 seconds! That's my 3 week goal, so I'm going to keep doing that every time I go out. Which, given the pile of maths I've left myself, isn't likely to be in the next few days. So, I'm going to put the schedule on hold until Monday (not because that's International I'll Start On Monday Day, but because I've got uni deadlines until Thursday, then am working all weekend - damn hospitality jobs at xmas... see this is why I need to do well at uni!). *casts Protect & Vigilance* I'll do what I can when I can until then. Really laying off the sugary drinks, and I hit my 30 second running goal already (my throat was burning and my legs were shaking after the second interval, that's how unfit I am. My god!). I suspect that by 21st Nov I should hit a few level up points though probably not all of them. I'll start again as Level 1 for the next 6 week challenge. Getting organised so I'm not snowed under cramming for uni assignments is going to be a big part of that, as is figuring out my sleeping pattern because that's all gone to hell too the past few days. *engage Steelguard*

Oh, it doesn't really make much of a difference. What too much sugar DOES do is make me ravenously hungry and liable to scarf down tons of other crap. Plus it makes me feel sluggish, fuzzy-headed, and messes with my sleep pattern. Too much eating of other crap and a messed up sleep pattern puts me more at risk for depression, which makes me eat tons of other crap and makes me sleep all day and not want to work out or study or pick up more shifts at work. Ultimately, cutting down on sugar is a Level 1 rat-killing exercise in making the foundation of good habits

Day 2! Man, I'm out of practice... I can't believe I used to skate 3-4 times a week for 2-3 hours at a time, walk dozens of miles every week, plus do countless hours of bodyweight exercises and yoga... Seriously I used to do this for fun. 2 days after my first round of BBWW and I was late for work because I dropped my keys on the floor on the way out then had to walk down 3 flights of stairs which took so long I missed my bus This must mean my body is adapting! w00t! So today: Go for walk? Done. Maybe a mile. Add 7 second running intervals to this walk? Done, 4x7. I was afraid my legs were going to buckle from the soreness, then I realised... "Yay! OMG this is actually easier than walking! I wish I could run to work!!..." So hopefully soon I can run for the bus I'm about to miss because it took me so damn long to get down the stairs ). Drink no more than 5 sugary drinks? Done! 1 blueberry protein smoothie which I'm counting for having 11g sugar (the only known protein drink in central Glasgow...), 1 small hot chocolate at work and 1 coffee with one sugar when I got in from work. And... I'd planned on getting up at 9, but body says no: 11 it is. One thing I noticed yesterday after getting back into working out even just this once? I could not keep my eyes open last night, and I slept like a baby. For a LONG time. At least 10 hours (I usually wake up after 7 hours without an alarm). And for a chronic insomniac? BEST. THING. EVER. I call today a success!! Tomorrow: - Get up whenever. Late in from work tonight, and gotta get cracking on 2 uni assignments for next week so I want my mind and body fresh and adequately rested. - No more than 5 drinks with sugar. - Go for a walk. - Add 9 second running intervals to this walk. - Attempt BBWW again. I'm not sure if I'm ready but I want to try. Promise I won't bust myself up. I just want to see how my body handles this again after 2 days. If I need to wait another day, I'm cool with that. If not, awesome Onwards!

Excellent! I just found out that the ps4 is on the way, along with Watch Dogs I got Hitman Absolution on psn but need to reactive my ps+ membership before I can play it again... I was getting right into it when uni work got crazy Picked up AC2 for £4 today, just in from work so that's going on for a mini-session right now!

*casts Faith, Bravery and Haste (twice)* Go do it! Respawn!

Yes! An entire gaming section, I love it even more here now I'm hybrid756 on PSN as well. On my 5th or so playthrough of FF13 Lighting Returns, being a total completionist about my ultimate weapons collection. I started Borderlands again recently since I didn't finish it the first time round, and I've been playing the pre-sequel. Besides, Lilith is too awesome. Throw a bit of Black Flag in there as well for good measure (until I get frustrated trying to take down a manowar and do something else...). I want to pick up a copy of AC2 as well, been dying to play it again. Mr Hybrid is seriously considering getting a PS4 soon, so if that happens I'll be rattling into Watch Dogs while he's out