Cirrus

I've done the strong lifts program and added in stair running or some small cardio sessions with it before. But I based it on how I was feeling per each day; if I was dragging that week I wouldn't if I was peppy I would. HIIT would probably fit in nicely, It's just a matter of finding something that works for you. I'd say your best bet is to go ahead and try adding in on your workout days after you finish your lifts and listen to your body/scale appropriately, that way if you do start failing/fatiguing it isn't on your lifts. There's some guess and check involved with anything new. Similarly you could try doing some HIIT stuff on your rest days and see if it impacts your lifts from there.

Alright I can't say Ive been in a totally similar situation but; I had a roommate who was new to the gym ad had never seen any of it before and wanted to come with me. I was in much better shape and could do a lot more than her and she found that disheartening to the point she didn't want to do any weights, no intense exercises or cardio and mostly did opt for the bike, and would join me for abs, because that is the doctrine she had been fed. I think our biggest difficulty came from her feeling like she wasn't accomplishing anything at that shed never be able to do what I was doing. So first off; It's important not to outclass beginners who aren't motivated by competition and its tough to try and find a balance that works for two people who are at different places fitness wise. As you seem to be willing to be an awesomely supportive person and wait for her this maybe won't be as much of a problem as it was for me and my roommate. A good place to start is on something that she has some interest in and build off of it. Especially to begin with I would maybe sacrifice a little bit of the intensity of the workouts in favour of getting a routine started and completing manageable workouts that are going to make her feel accomplished and not discouraged. Is she interested in weights? cardio? a specific machine? If not and you are starting completely from scratch maybe just go through most of the equipment, whats its for, how its used, keep the difficulty way down, and find a few things that she's good at and feels comfortable with; I'd start those as the core of your workouts and then branch off of them. Maybe into some easy/fun circuits(which are so much more fun to do with someone else, I just feel like an equipment hog/jerk when I'm doing them by myself) and maybe only a 15-20 minute cardio paired with this kind of thing? Its hard to suggest any set in stone plans without knowing you guys personally, because ultimately you've got to be the ones who know where you are at and what to set your difficulty level at. As far as scheduling goes id start out slow (3x a week kinda thing, and maybe only 1 or 2 for the first week or 2. As far as a good starting point any of the beginner routines (such as the beginner strength training that nerd fitness posted) can be tailored to pretty much any starting point. The hardest part with starting out I think isn't the routine as much as it is keeping the accomplished good feelings and motivation to keep going alive.

Whelp in my non professional opinion: As far as joint health and mobility go swimming is a great one; most pools offer lessons and some even have ones catered to adults/newbie swimmers. Also a lot of water aerobics classes have shallow ones where you can stand in the pool rather than deep end ones, a lot of people use floaties in those classes as well. Yoga is another way to work on joint mobility - there are usually at least one or two fairly expensive studios in most towns and you can find free instructional videos online, I am a big fan of ashtanga or vinyasa because I like the workout that comes along with it but maybe a more gentler type would be good for you? Now while I'm a huge fan of yoga it is very important to go at a pace your body can handle, not every instructor is great at monitoring all their patrons and moreover its hard to tell where someone else limits are, so its definitely something that you need to be aware of and not push to the point of injury. Body awareness, body awareness, body awareness. I would suggest looking into/trying out either of those and seeing if they work for you? As far as setting up a plan goes if you are a complete beginner start slow, find something that works for you, set out to do it 2 or three times a week for a month. As you start feeling stronger or if it starts to feel easy find something a little more challenging and add that in. Best thing is almost every activity will build muscle tone, its just a matter of doing it semi frequently and progressing with the next steps as you get better.

Oh good that calms me down a bit - My friends are semi-l33t but one is bringing his sister who is less into the cardio side like me so we might not be going that hard. I would love to run hills...but I live in a town that is completely flat right now. Id have to drive a reasonable distance to the nearest river to find a hill and there isn't adequate parking there. I may end up doing the a couple times just to try and get used to running hills again though. Nutrition wise I'm okay ish - Breakfast I usually have eggs and sometimes sausage, or fruit and greek yogurt, sometimes PB&J if i get up late Lunch is usually a wrap (lettuce, deli meat and mustard generally) a vegetable (i.e. bell pepper, cucumber, etc) and a piece of fruit or granola bar. Supper is where I fall apart Im too burnt out after the day to cook and its usually too hot to use the over anyways. My usual staple here is to cook frozen fish or chicken breast, and then do a vegetable and rice. Haven't been doing this lately because its been too hot so I have mostly just been eating...whatever, and probably with more snacking than I ought to ( i.e. last night I think I had, some pepperoni sticks, half a cucumber with hummus, and then peanuts, raisins, chocolate (trail mix style) and a banana, and a nectarine, and the remainder of a thing of greek yogurt...it was a particularly bad night for just eating continuously, which I will do if I'm just laying in front of the couch watching netflix) I try to control what I eat by not buying the bad stuff at the store; but sometimes that doesn't stop me from just mowing through the food I do have. Yeah Im a little worried about that, I'd like to get a longer distance in before race day though so that I don't end up doing that to my tendons the day of, Likely I won't make a full 10, 8 or 9 maybe. * Also super thank you for the advice and stuff.

Allright so way back in April I decided I was on track to run a Tough mudder and bought myself a ticket and found a few friends. For those of you unfamiliar Tough Mudder is a 16-20km obstacle race that requires a fair bit of all over strength in order to complete the obstacles and a decent amount of cardio for the run itself (mine is in Drumheller, Alberta, fairly hilly terrain) I thought Id be able to keep myself on track but i got sick about three weeks ago and fell into couch potato potato chips and nachos mode. My old program i had put together had my hardest training landing in these past three weeks where I have done Nothing. I now have, 16 days till race day, which is a ridiculously tiny amount of time to prep - I don't need to be able to do well, I just need to be in good enough shape to not hurt myself day of, and maybe not come in dead last. Currently; I can jog about 5k before I need to stop :< I was up to 7 before the sickness/laziness I can do 2 Chin ups in a row, and then another 1 after resting Was doing 135 lbs for squats in a 12, 8, 6 set (adding 10 each drop in sets) Was doing 105 for bench press (5 sets of 5) probably less now I no longer have access to the gym/freeweights (my favourite) because the gym in this little town has closed for renovations So I need a plan that will get me in as good a place as I can be in 16 days, and I have very little knowledge of setting up short time span plans I was thinking: 20th: Run 5k (done and threw in a few pullup progressions on the playground equipment) 21st: Upper bodyweight workout? All i have available is playground equipment 22nd: Run/walk 7k. 23rd: Lower body/core workout 24th: Yoga/rest 25th: Run as far as possible (I'd like to hit 10-12k, I suspect a good deal of this will be interspersed with walking) 26: Upper somehow 27th: run 5-7k 28th: lower body/core 29th run 7-8k 30th: yoga/rest 31st: Upper 1st: run 5k 2nd: Lower 3rd: Light/ all over 4th: rest/ go for a walk 5th: rest 6th: Race day I need critiques of this and any advice on bodyweight routines that I can accomplish with just myself/varoius playground equipment around town. I really don't want to let my friends down and I don't want to do the easy route I always take which is to give up and try to refund my ticket :/ Any advice nutritionally would be awesome too; thats maybe my less knowledgeable field as it goes - though I will be posting a topic on the nutrition side with my plea of help as well.

Thanks Sovelis! Im not a full out quitter just a sporadic one. Hanging on by my fingertips.

March 23 - Whoop! Woke up, made lunch, made it to class (only five minutes late because sat down to have breakfast instead of running out the door) AND worked out. And am currently sitting here finishing my water quota for the day. Now to just keep the ball rolling through the week. I got scheduled for tuesday and thursday night at work so weds/thurs mornings are going to be rough.

Annnnd the cycle of failing continues - Lets talk about it. Mar 13 My vehicle was giving me problems on the 12th, making noise, I was seriously worried about the transmission. Turns out its not the transmission but it needed a fair amount of service, all told about 2000$ :/ streeesssssss I didn't work out because my father came into town, had lunch with him and worked out my vehicle problems (dropped it off for the servicing) instead and never dragged my butt back to the gym in the evening, then went out drinking (friends birthday) Mar 14 Saturday, ate alright, went out drinking/curling bonspeil this night - It was really fun, though we got don airs to end of the night , not particularly healthy, but thats how it goes. Mar 15 Recovery day from the previous couple party nights, did my laundry at least so that was nice. Played destiny at the end of the night. When I fail I fail spectacularly: Mar 16 - Monday disaster day. No morning class, no gym, no water quota, didn't eat well. Mar 17 - no morning class, got control of the water and food goals though, so yay? Worked a shift mar 18 - No gym - no classes at all, worked a shift, drowning in evasion of responsibilities. Mar 19 - made it to class, worked in the afternoon, went out for supper with roommate, had several drinks, raided my fridge, filled a water bottle and went to bed. Mar 20th- Woke up to my last alarm, didnt get up. Had a disturbing dream that there was a party at our house but i lost control of everything and no one was helping me and essentially my house got trashed, my key to the house disappeared, and they broke into the upstairs house too? idea…and i was having to deal with all that. Woke up stressed. Haven't gone to any classes today, sat down and redid my calendar. Haven't worked out yet today, If i went now I could probably get one in before i need to leave/get ready for DND tonight. Also finally made a posting for sublets, we will see if that pans out. My mental state has been crappy lately. I'm going to go meditate for twenty minutes and then try and drag myself to the gym. New goals: Take vitamin D every morning again ( I stopped a month ago, bad choice, I really get down without it….its not even that hard to take? I don't know why I ever stopped.) Gym - every weekday. Tues/thurs is cardio and technique days. Im thinking i may extend my challenge a week to try and make up for this fiasco…in fact I think i may try to continue with these goals right through till end of exams. We will see how well that goes. On a plus side I have had 2 water bottes so far today as I've been getting my last month of school planned out. So thats something.

Im disappointed that I have missed a fair amount of them, but that shouldn't stop me from trying to meet them the next day. Ouch, that'd smart something fierce, and while its true that not every structure has equal strength 165 isn't really palm ripping weight, or at least it should be something I'm capable of hanging on to. Ill try and work on my grip before I up the weight again. For the most part I try to listen to sense when I'm hitting the uncomfortable weight range. I might try varying my sets too, 12, 8, 5 reps with progressively heavier weights rather than 5 x 5 at the heaviest that I'm working with. Its frustrating having been able to hang on to heavier bars in the past without this happening and having problems with it now.

Upping weights is the best feeling, and sounds like you had a good run too, awesome. As far as catcalling goes I'm always somewhere between confused/flattered/insulted. Its sort of an odd combination really, but hey take the good parts from it right? I saw a little comic strip this morning that I really wanted to post here; that being said the gist of it was that We are capable of rationalizing anything to ourselves, and that that is terrifying. Often I 'reward' myself with things I'm not supposed to be doing. I don't feel good about it later on but at the time it seems reasonable. I haven't found a way around it except for being able to realize that I'm just rationalizing a want i have. Its so hard when the only person you are accountable to is yourself and you want something - because its pretty easy to convince ourselves theres a good reason for it/we deserve it. Sometimes theres no replacement for things either, you just want them, and have to constantly fight with yourself to not give in. My most effective strategy so far is just to distract myself from it or to go somewhere where I can't have access to that thing (impromptu grocery trips, texting a friend to go hang out with, etc). Not saying that any of this is particularly relevant to you or good advice, I dunno. But I totally get how hard it is to try and hold off on things you want, especially when you are the only thing stopping yourself.

March 11 Update: Ha, its been awhile. Mostly because I've been embarrassed to post. Fell of the track a bit with my goals between last week and now, I got my workout in on friday but I missed 3/5 of my morning classes last week and one of them this week so far. (And by missed I mean couldn't find the will to leave my bed/house because I've been down. I played Destiny on saturday for 13 hours straight, ate a bag and a half of nacho chips and decimated the unsuspecting salsa and sour cream that was leftover from the tacos thursday night.Not too mention started drinking around four. Sunday I was at least embarrassed enough about that to eat well and try to get my water in, did an assignment and then played destiny in the evening again, though for less time and more out of loneliness, had only a couple drinks. Monday I made it to class, but didn't workout. I told myself I'd go back in the evening and didn't. Bad me. I ate the last half bag of tortilla chips to prevent them from tempting me the rest of the week and because I was feeling bad for myself. Tuesday I made it to class and ate better, even made my water quota, worked on an assignment a bit. Met with a friend in the afternoon and had a long emotional talk about issues and my current mental hardships (sorta out of some messy relationship stuff as of a month before xmas). Was a bit of a mess, not proud. Today, woke up in time and showered, even packed my lunch and everything, but then sat down and didn't stand back up to go to class, I drew for awhile instead which made me feel a lot better. Went to my afternoon classes and then the gym (yay). Todays weights: Squat: 135, Dead: 165, Ham curls: 90, Calf raises (no weight, the machine was full and I didn't want to wait. so bodyweight reps), Lunges (just bodyweight, legs weren't super tired so I gave them an extra 25 lunges each) Im starting to run into a problem with my lifts though, particularly Dead and Squat. Deadlift i find my grip is failing ( i need to regrip every rep, and by the last one I'm holding the bar in curled fingers rather than a closed fist) I feel like if i could hold onto the bar better I'd be able to lift heavier, that being said I don't want to move ahead until my grip strength is where it needs to be. Im a big fan of the idea that 'if you can't hold it/pick it up its too heavy for you' idea. Im not sure how to improve this aside from maybe implementing some farmer carry/ training with those little grip rings that you squeeze? For the squat I've started trying to do it like is suggested in Starting Strength ( previously I held the bar above my scapular ridge (thanks coach) instead of just under it. I find with this slight positioning change I am having trouble with my wrists hurting/not feeling like they wedge the bar very well and not being able to straighten fully with the bar on my back ( staying a little bit bent at the hips throughout the set. Im thinking maybe i should lighten up the weight a bit and work with form a bit more till I feel comfortable again? Idk. Life goes on.

Im not usually 'on call' per say. It was more there was a mixup in the scheduling, I thought it was odd but didn't ask about it and then got a call from my roommate being all 'so you are on the schedule tonight'. Good fun. Yea and sunday mornings the gym is nice and empty. A make up leg workout would fit in there nicely. Yea, tiny wins. eventually ill be able to get all of these per day. If i can meet 3/4 of these goals in a day I consider it a win. Hopefully by the end of the next couple weeks i can start looking to make it 4/4 per day more often. Late update for March 4th: Did not manage to drag my ass out of bed. Im not sure why I have an aversion to my MWF 8am but I think I might just be afraid of getting midterm marks back. I hate feeling like a failure at anything, and math classes always manage to suck the spunk right out of me. I did manage to go to the gym, kept to my eating schedule, and managed to find enough time to go out and get groceries before work (needed to restock on veggies and lunch materials) I got starting strength recently and have made my way through most of the squat technique bits so I spent a little time working on that when I hit the gym. So numbers for wednesday are: squat (125) Dead (155) Ham Curls (85) Calves (100), Lat pulls (55). My calves are probably the only weight thats as high as it should be right now, they were certainly the only muscles that were majorly exhausted when I left the gym, though they are pretty small in relation to everything else so thats to be expected. Ill try and add more weight (or at the very least do a maxrep for my last set) when I do my makeup leg round on the weekend and go for the difficulty on that last rep because it hasn't been there. March 5th: Thursday went well, had a potluck in the evening and we all had tacos, delicious. I also had a few drinks, which, while it isn't specifically a goal of mine not to drink, doesn't help too much either. Whoops i forgot to hit post on this on the fourth xD

Hey ever - thanks for checking in. Monday did not go well, the whole weekend was sort of terrible in fact. I went home for a couple days to visit my folks and so didn't eat as paleo as I have been. We did have salmon and steak though, so that was delicious. I got a surprise sunday when I was called and told I was working when I wasn't originally scheduled so a bunch of relaxing/fun plans I had made went out the window. That sort of there me off for the the entirety of monday. I missed my morning class, went to my afternoon ones (one of which was cancelled) but also forgot my workout shoes and so I didn't end up working out. The only thing I accomplished yesterday was drinking my 2 bottles of water quota. On a bright side I just started a newDnD campaign with some friends last night so thats looking like its going to be fun. Doing better today, refocusing and have stuck to my eating plan and have put my gym shoes back in my gym bag so they are ready to go for tomorrow. I may do an extra gym day on the weekend to make up for missing monday.

Alright so Didi todays workout: Overhand rows (70), Push press (70), Biceps (20), Tricep cable pull downs (25) Bench Press gave me some trouble today, the gym was busy so I ended up using the smith aching for bench - which was less than optimal. I managed to snag a bench halfway through but my weights on the smith were different than the bench. I tried to mimic and see if i could do the same weight (a 25 and a 10 on each side, so 115 total) I did one rep, and managed to get halfway up on the second so, I didn't need to have someone come save me from my stupidity. Still, I don't like messing up like that with people around. Ended up putting the weight down to 105 to my last 2 sets and only doing 3 reps. Im pretty tired today, had a not so paleo and not so sugar free granola bar and some chocolate chips with peanut butter (I'm allergic to tree nuts unfortunately) as an attempt to boost my energy. Luckily I get a couple days to sleep in and hopefully energy will be back up by monday.

Day, five. Got up and just had enough time to make breakfast, coffee, lunch, shower, grab my gym stuff and run out the door. But I made it to class and I have everything I need, so thats good! And now I'm sitting here and working on some readings for my classes. I forgot my water bottle this morning but I've been filling my coffee thermos instead. Upper workout is on the list for today, Im kind of tired but not giving myself the option of not going. I need to work on having earlier bedtimes.

Holy crap man, thats a lot of work hours - im not quite that bad but hey if you can even do work and school with that kind of hours thats awesome. Its really hard to balance everything when you have so little time to work with. I find I need to start looking at my workouts as non-optional appointments. Appointments with weights . Thats the only way I can justify not putting it off for something else - even at that I'm bad when i hit deadlines/exam time because I'll drop workouts to study. Yea - I'm one of those people that likes it as dark as possible and chilly when I'm sleeping so i try to get my room as dark as I can at night. Some street light gets in my window still but my room stays pretty dark. That being said I should maybe try to avoid bright screens before bed, particularly on nights i don't work. I find my problem is I'm wired when I get home from work (around midnight) and end up staying awake another hour or so, which makes 6 am painful. I might need to start using naps midday on days after I work so that I actually can make it through the day as well as getting up on time. I dunno, its tough.

I have a harder time watching food ( because my roommate cooks sometimes and i can't refuse - that stuffs delicious) I find I'm way more interested in doing workouts if they aren't long cardio sessions - sometimes i ave a mind to do those but it never lasts. I prefer shot sprint stuff, and lifting. I love the post-workout feeling tired but good, and I actually enjoy being sore (weird person over here). I find i have an easy time doing things i want to do, so I try and keep myself in the mindset of being excited for the gym, and for my fridge full of good foods.

Thu Feb 26: Woke up after my morning class had started with a headache after being awake till 1. I respect sleep more than my classes apparently. Starting off the day with water, coffee, a bowl of fruit and working on my assignments instead.

Its nice to see I'm not the only one who's trying to get back into shape after losing it post-sports. Don't be nervous about the RP entries, I think they are fantastic and I'd do them myself but I don't have much time on my hands between school, work, and workouts and I'm not very confident in my writing. Super cool that you are doing archery, and it looks like you've been doing well so far. Keep going!

Day three: Good: - Completed workout ( ran stairs (10 sets), squat - 115, dead - 155, ham. curls - 75, calves - 90, inverted rows) - Eating good so far Bad: -Missed my morning water requirement. -Accomplished nothing productive in my break today. You flatter so well xD I maybe go a little harder than I should for just getting back into it but I try to be mindful of my limits. Theres a sugar dragon? Lets kill it! I'm so down. Thanks for the encouragement! I think the workouts might be the easiest to stick to.

Alllllrighty so here I am. Newbie headed for the warriors with some assassin/ranger mixed in in the future - I like switching it up and being a well rounded sort of person, that being said I love being strong so thats the foundation. About me: (you all can skip this flavour text ) Ive been a longtime lurker of NF but never actually made an account or participated in the community. Im a university student, 22 years old, 5'7" and ~180 pounds on your average day. Ive played hockey for 14 years up to 2012, I stopped when I moved into the city for university but I was playing at a collegiate level before that. Ive always been on the stronger side and I've loved every minute of it so recently after six months of not working out and eating a deficit (non intentional, just wasn't hungry because sedentary ) I found myself back at the gym and sadly not in the shape or having the strength I used to. Naturally I decided I was having none of that and it seemed like a perfect time to join an NF challenge for real. I did start monday with this but I'm good at procrastinating so I'm just writing up what I'm doing now. Goals: 1. Getting Strength Back: (STR) Restarting my workouts, monday wednesday and Friday routine doing a lower/upper sort of split for now as I get back into it, I just purchased starting strength so when that arrives I'll probably tailor my routine around that instead For now I've been doing: Lower: 5 sets 5 reps (last set max rep…without dropping things on myself because i don't have a spotter) Exercise - (starting weight) Deadlift (145) Squats (95) Hamstring Curls (with a machine) (70 - both legs D:) Calf raises (90) And I've been throwing in my back/pullup progression work on these days. Lat pull (55) Single hand bent over rows (40) Upper: 5 sets, 5 reps ('max' rep on the last one) Bench (85) Clean and press (70) Overhand row (60) Tricep cable pulldowns (20…so 10/arm ...barely puny tri's) Biceps (20) And some core work on these days but not much, plank and a few ab exercises of my choice. Ive been tracking lift weight in excel and will continue to do so I also usually do 5-10 minutes of warmup prior to these, rowing machine and running stairs have been the favourites so far. 2. Feed them Muscles Feed them good: (CON) Eating 60-80% paleo Cutting junk food/desserts/etc back to a minimum My fridge got stocked with veggies fruit and the freezer is full of meat and I have no objections to any of it, delicious. But I love my dairy too much to let it go, am cutting back on it though, bread/wraps/etc are an occasional thing, allowed 2-4 times a week in my suppers. Though I do do wraps everyday (lettuce can't do the job to hold it together) This includes cutting out/weaning off of my junk food and ice-cream/chocolate habit thats gotten bad recently. Typical food plan: Breakfast: Either sausages(or bacon) and eggs or a bowl of fruit and greek yogurt or a smoothie with protein powder and coffee on the side, black. Snack: Piece of fruit or veggies (sliced apple with cinnamon has been the favourite) Lunch: A wrap (tomato slices, lettuce turkey a slice of cheese and hummus or mustard in a spinach tortilla) and some cut up veggies ( a whole bell pepper has been the standard, or snap peas, or carrots, etc) Post workout/2nd Snack: Post workout ill do some protein shake and a handful of veggies or just the veggies on a non workout day. Supper: Usually some variant of meat + veggies, fish and asparagus, stir fry, etc. Yesterday i had a head of broccoli and half a plate of peas just raw with a bit of ranch and hummus though. I usually end up having another little snack sometime after supper, pepperoni sticks or my ice cream/chocolate fix. Trying to wean this one out and replace with tea. 3. Hydrate: (CON) - start with getting at least 2 of my shaker bottles of water drank/day, work my way up to 3. (Coffee doesn't count) 4. Be a good student: (WIS) I have 8 am classes everyday, I don't always make it to them (Some nights I work till 11 or 12) I want to start making it to a minimum of 9 of these every 2 weeks. My favourite student pastime is procrastinating, I want to try and use a two hour break between classes M/W/F to actually get on top of and finish assignments ahead of time. Life goal: I used to do yoga really frequently too, less the meditation and more of the vinyasa/ashtanga/hot yoga style. That being said I want to spend twenty minutes once a week sitting quietly and meditating to manage stress, anxiety, and for the sake of clearing my head a bit.