Widgetman

Just found this topic - I'm out near East Mids airport. No gym, doing bodyweight stuff.

Hi Msuroo, Wasn't sure if I was alone in this. You are right of course, why would I want to compare myself with anyone else? It can only ever be me against myself with me as the winner. Progress should be as you say, more reps leading to bigger bands. Just follow the yellow brick road and be patient. When I hear about what others are doing with free weights I can only respond that I use orange and green bands doubled with my feet placed here and here. It's like comparing chalk and cheese. Thanks for your reassurance. Tim.

To create a portable gym and to save space and money I use a set of resistive bands (Bodylastics, recommended) but all the routines I read about on this forum are set up for using weights. Because of the way that resistive bands work, progressive loading and unloading, stretching, etc, how can I compare my progress with anyone else? Please comment if you have any experience of using bands and measuring/comparing progress. Thanks.

What you have achieved makes me truly jealous. I was told to never write any academic articles, ever, by my tutor at the uni that put me through my teacher training, so I never have. I've been teaching for 4 years having been working in industry for 20 years before that. You've achieved in your first year what I can only dream of doing - I take my hat off to you and would love to read your article if it's ever posted somewhere linkable. Major WOOT and my very best wishes for the next one.

Wow, comments!! Not used to this. Thanks for the input - I often feel that when I post on sites like this that I am putting a message into a bottomless bucket, just another fluttering note amongst a snowfall of others. It's very reassuring to know that someone reads and feels able to take the time and effort to respond. Thanks, it really makes me want to keep posting. So, BruteSquad asks questions that I should have anticipated. My journey is not as long as many have to travel. I'm 6'5" (1.96m) and started this journey last December at 235lb (16st 11lb). I started this challenge at 220lb with an aspirational target of 210lb. Realistically this is too optimistic as I've never lost more than 1lb per week but after 3 weeks I'm routinely down to 215lb showing a 5lb loss so far. I've not run for 30 years as 'a gentleman walks and never runs' so its a great oportunity to retrain in a less injury prone form. So I've started to learn a barefoot running style using Vibram Fivefinger Sprints which I surprisingly find very comfortable. I'm still not there yet as I keep pulling my left calf muscle by trying to push off the foot rather than just fall forward and use the foot and leg to absorb the weight. But I'm getting there and my aerobic fitness is definitely improving. I can now walk up the hill from the corner shop without feeling like I should be puffing. More importantly I am learning how to make my own beef jerky (I use beef skirt fillets cut into 1/2 inch strips) to supplement the nuts, seeds and dried fruit snacks. I've also begun to integrate a simple 24 hour 'intermittent fast' at weekends, and I've concentrated on building a habit of exercise every day. I'm also 3/4 of the way through the couch to 5k running program. It's been straight forward so far because as a teacher I'm on extended summer break. The real challenge begins next week when I go back to school and my time is ruled by bells, timetables and the expectations to deliver quality lessons and assessments. I'm hoping the exercise habit has been established for long enough. The 5k run will hopefully be incentive enough to force me to continue for the first few weeks of term as a platform to build on. I do like to beat my own measures; I try not to compare myself with others as for me that way madness lies. With the upcoming demise of the community blogs on Nerd Fitness I'm setting up a simple one on WordPress at http://thewidgetman.wordpress.com/. Please check there for more details. Thanks again all of you for your support - keep going as even the smallest step in the right direction will get you nearer your goal.

See http://thewidgetman.wordpress.com/ for the reasoning behind this. Fitness goals: - complete c25k program - complete first 5k run - reduce weight to 210lb Life Goal: - Build a habit of exercise. RPG Race: human Strength (STR): 3 Dexterity (DEX): 2 Stamina (STA): 3 Constitution (CON): 2 Wisdom (WIS): 4 Charisma (CHA): 1 Chin up everyone - we can do this!!!

Motivation to exercise. Finding teaching to be a real emotional drain. With long commutes to school it is a regular 12 hour day. Get home needing to eat a horse and then have just enough energy left to switch on the tv. I know I should find a way to throw on rompers and chuck myself about in Steve's body weight routine to generate more energy. I know my body cries out for exercise. But it does this at 11am when I'm in front of 30 11 year olds and not at 8pm. Sleep also becoming harder as it takes so long to wind down from the end of the day. 2 weeks to go till 1/2 term, can't wait. It's the weekend and I have 2 sets of reports to write and 3 sets of work to mark before Monday. Ho hum .....