Joe Freedom

Yea I need to carry something with me with some kind of epic quote. It's really amazing how much of exercising/weight lifting is mental, and some days I could use a good smack to the head Junglizer, I'll link what Steve has written on bodyweight workouts for ya - Beginner: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/ Advanced: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/17/advanced-body-weight-workout-warning-this-will-kick-your-ass/ This is a great place to start.. of course you can get Steve's full rebel guide too

Hey Junglizer, what's up? I'm a software engineer myself, and yea you're pretty much the minority in the field if you want to bulk up, hehe. At 6'4" I used to be about 165 at the start of college, and hitting the weight room for a bit have managed to get up to almost 210 - it just takes a while . If you don't own a gym membership, a good place to start would be doing some bodyweight workouts that Steve has posted.. and add whatever weight you can find to do heavier amounts of lower reps. For example, placing a dumbell on your back doing pushups at home can mimic a bench press. If you do get serious about putting on some muscle, I'd recommend joining a gym for the access to dumbells and barbells. If you haven't been there before there are tons of articles on some basic exercises and how to safely perform them. Hitting these hard (think of Kratos from God of War) and keeping with it will see you great gains! If you want to just do some quick upper body stuff (although I, like Steve, would recommend strengthening the entire body) your best bet is going to be stuff like dumbell bench presses, dips, pullups (or lat pulldowns if you can't do bodyweight yet - which takes a while to get to) and some dumbell shrugs. This would be a simple, safe way to start. To really go at it you'd want to include deadlifts and squats etc. but you want to be confident in your form for those. Anyway, hope this info helps and hope to see you progressing!

Heyo deoryp, welcome to the boards. I'm a software engineer myself... unfortunately there're very few of us who actually do much athletic stuff I don't do a whole lot of distance running, mostly under 5k and sprinting workouts when I'm training for ultimate season, but my wife has done several marathons and I know how ridiculous the training for that is. Good luck in your efforts, feel free to start a post in the workout logs and track your mileage versus your training book, always helps to have some accountability!

Hey Dustin, welcome to the rebel army! Glad to see you've got all the tools and motivation so far to make some great changes, keep updating your progress and join in next month's challenge and we'll bust your butt if you don't keep at it Pour all your energy and toughness into each workout, and I'm sure you'll have no problem getting to where you wanna be. Good luck, look forward to seein' your progress!

Welcome to the rebel army I do mostly barbell/dumbell weight lifting for my workouts at the moment (offseason for ultimate frisbee, bulking back up). Steve's bodyweight stuff is killer for getting back into it and even a great workout for a veteran when you can't get to the gym. I did a yoga class the other day with my wife and it was actually a lot of fun. I need to keep at it to get my flexibility to where it should be and like you said.. it's a great way to relax the mind, especially after an annoying day of work! Good luck keepin' at it.. hot status awaits!

Woot, thanks for the concern and advice! Feeling just fine today, thankfully.. and am gonna take it easy on the pulling exercises for now and keep an eye out. I'm gonna try to change up my grip a little bit to see if that helps, but it looks like the problem is simply too much weight for my tendon to handle. I can't attribute it to overuse, but I know with my deadlifting and sudden two weeks of fron-facing grip pullups that I'm challenging my muscles fully but the stuff holding it all together isn't prepared for that yet. Will be hitting up the gym tomorrow morning for some benching and squats!

Did the warrior dash last fall with Stevo, was amazing. I think they had to adjust the course slightly for some reason so it ended up not being a full 5k.. cause there's no way I did 3 miles in 20ish minutes, even without obstacles . Had a blast though!

Ooh this could be fun. What should the deadline be? If there isn't one I know I'll put it off indefinitely

Well I've felt that weird tightness before, especially after working my biceps after a long period of not. Actually I've had the same thing happen when I've slept with my arm curled up, too... like an annoying tightness that doesn't go away for a few minutes. Almost as if I didn't stretch enough before lifting something heavy, but it definitely goes away when not working it out. I guess I'll proceed with caution and take it easy.. just to be safe I just seriously hate not lifting what I'm capable of doing

One of my continual goals is to feel like vomiting after every workout How else will you know you pushed yourself hard enough!?

Crap when's the last day of the challenge? I want to do this I'm gonna have to catch way up though. I did 100 last week that I know of, probably more for grinding out some extra on chest days. I'll low-ball it though and say 100. Bring it on!!

Yea CokeCan, at your height, if you're building muscle while dropping fat, it's going to be a while before you get close to 200, if at all. Not to say that's impossible, but I'm slightly taller than you and almost 210, and actually trying to put on some more weight and get down to 10% BF at the same time. Like alecto said, your goals may change as you build more muscle and eventually, getting under 200 might mean losing muscle mass once you get beast enough Good luck in continuing to shed the fat and keep kicking ass!

I'm 6'4" and almost 210, but used to be 6'2" and about 170 back freshman year of college, so I know where you're coming from 220 has actually been my goal for a while, but I haven't been consistent with the gym until recently. keep in mind, though, that just eating a crapton when you've got a high metabolism won't put any weight on you - you'll just feel gross. Putting on lots of lean muscle takes a long time, and a lot of hard work. Do some serious weight lifting in the gym (there are some good starter guides out there for sure, and Steve will have one eventually ) and give it your all. Push yourself to get stronger daily and roar when you need to! Most importantly - stick with it (the hardest part)! If you're hitting it hard, and at least eating decently enough, you should see noticeable physical changes within a few weeks, given where you are. Don't worry too much about the scale, too... drinking lots of water and eating tons of food can have that number fluctuate like you would not believe, and only be a source of short-term frustration. At the end of the day, if you're not happy with the reflection in the mirror, a number isn't going to do much for ya Good luck!

I'm sort of ambidextrous, but have developed a larger left side from baseball early on. Doing barbell workouts will actually see your stronger side doing more of the work, as it's easier for it, which will only exacerbate one side continuing to be stronger. Like Army said, do presses with dumbells so you're guaranteed to work out both evenly. As for pulldowns, just continue to make sure the bar is even as you come down, especially at the top of the pull. While you may even strength out eventually, having one side of your body slightly larger or more powerful is completely natural, and don't let that bother you too much. Hell, even Arnold had that going on

Well the real issue is that the cockpits are designed/engineered for maximum efficiency, and you just can't be over a certain dimension or you simply won't fit in them. I'm a little over 6'4" and literally cannot fit in a fighter jet cockpit, and wouldn't be allowed to fly one (not that I'm trying to, heh). While I can't lower my height, at least someone's waist size can be diminished

Gym in tha morning, did not go as well as I'd hoped though. Warmup Bike for a few mins Pullups 10 x BW (206) - 50 lbs 5 x BW 5 x BW 5 x BW 5 x BW 5 x BW Deadlifts - Ok my right arm's tendon at the elbow started getting inflamed, think it was due to the pullups. Last Tuesday I had done deadlifts first and this problem didn't show itself, but I remember my arm feeling tight after I left the gym last week. Well, it made deadlifts incredibly painful and I could only get one real set before it hurt too much. 10 x 45 lbs 5 x 135 lbs 5 x 225 lbs 5 x 325 lbs - Had to stop. I plan on going back to the gym this evening and finishing these out. I may do some more pullups (afterwards) too - want to get that tendon strong! Just don't think it's used to so many pullups, as I don't do any pure bicep exercises.

Another week, here we go. Spent the weekend doing some housework, including cutting and installing crown moulding... takes a hell of a long time and took up most of my time. Good times though This morning, got back into it - Warmup Few minutes on the bike Push Press (overhead barbell) 10 x 45 lbs 5 x 95 lbs 5 x 135 lbs.. holy crap I realize this one of the hardest lifts out there 4 x 135 lbs 5 x 115 lbs Lunges (each leg) 8 x 50 lbs 8 x 80 lbs 8 x 130 lbs 8 x 130 lbs 8 x 130 lbs 8 x 120 lbs Cable Crossovers 10 x 105 lbs 8 x 150 lbs 5 x 210 lbs 5 x 265 lbs 5 x 265 lbs 5 x 265 lbs Planks 30 seconds - uber low 60 seconds 60 seconds

What up Cacophony? Where you at?

Hey man, shit happens, right? You've maintained a good attitude and are still making plans to continue bustin' workouts and keeping the intensity up... that's the hard part. Glad to see you've still got the motivation despite having to work so much. Keep at it brotha!

Moved Thursday's workout to this morning to accommodate my buddy's schedule, and gonna do Friday's workout tomorrow morning. Warmup - Bike Dumbell Bench Press 10x 30 lb bells 8x 45 lb bells 5x 75 lb bells 5x 80 lb bells 5x 90 lb bells 5x 100 lb bells - Yea this is a PR out of nowhere, I have no idea why I was able to do these today... just felt great. Could've done more probably but wanted to save some energy for squats. Also, it's awkward/dangerous lifting up those large bells into position, and didn't want to force anything. Squats - Attempted front squats but couldn't figure out the grip or correct form, will be researching this and trying later. Quads were annihilated still from Monday's deep lunge workout, so kept it lighter 10x 45 lbs 5x 135 lbs 5x 225 1x 275 - Went deep and almost didn't make it back up This is when my quads told me they were still on the mend 4x 225 5x 225 Tomorrow gonna do bent over rows and power cleans, as well as some insane core yoga workout thing that my wife and friends have done at the gym. Apparently it makes you want to die, so it should be awesome!

So I moved Thursday's workout to this morning to comply with my buddy's work schedule, and Friday's stuff si gonna be tomorrow morning. Randomly hit a PR on dumbell bench press... got up to 100 lb dumbells at 5 reps. Hell I could've done more but wanted to save a bit of energy for squats. I have no idea where the fuel to hit it that hard came from, but i'll take it. For squats though.. I was going to try front squats since back squats always seem to pull my shoulder joint the wrong way, but man front squats felt SO awkward. I tried the normal 'clean' grip, but my wrists aren't flexible enough to hold that position very long, and the the arms-crossed method I've seen felt like I didn't have much control on the bar. Anyone have any tips or advice on front squat grip/form? I ended up just doing 225 on the back squat, legs were still kinda sore from epic deep weighted lunges on Monday

I've been doing pretty well, had a rough out-of-town party weekend from Friday through Sunday, so nothing was really accomplished over those days Convinced my buddy who lives in Atlanta to come work out with me.. but he can only do mornings, so guess what i've been doing the past few days? It's been tough getting up early but I'm loving it so far. Today's my day off so I slept in a bit but gonna hit up the gym tomorrow morning once again. I did hit 415 on the deadlift yesterday, and getting back up to 350 was my goal, so I think I've gotten that goal covered My shoulders have felt a bit rough on back squats, so I'm going to try out front squats tomorrow. If I can get that form down I -might- be able to hit my 315 goal. We'll se how it goes. Love seeing your guys' progress, keep it up everyone!

Got to the gym this morning.. fairly miraculous given my lack of sleep and that it's soo much earlier than normal. Oh well Warmup Bike it up Pullups Warmups with a pulldown machine 5x 5x bodyweight (206 lbs) Deadlifts - Goin for some heavy ones this time 10x 45 lbs 5x 135 lbs 5x 225 lbs 1x 315 lbs 1x 365 lbs 1x 415 lbs (Think this is a PR, woot) 1x 365 lbs 1x 385 lbs

K first post did not make it, will try again. Was out of town this weekend, so the diet was basically fast food and beers. Good times were had by all, though, so I'm not too worried about it. Decided to hit up the gym this week in the mornings with my pal and actually managed to get up at 6:40 this morning to do it. Crazy.. I usually wake up like 3 hrs later than that Warmup 5 mins bike Lunges 10x bodyweight 8x +60 lbs 5x +120 lbs 4x 5x +140 lbs Push Press (overhead barbell) - haven't done these in a while so I started low and worked my way up to find a comfortable weight, and to make sure my form stays correct under strain so I don't screw up my shoulder. 10x 45 lbs 8x 65 lbs 5x 85 lbs 5x 95 lbs 5x 115 lbs 5x 125 lbs Felt good, could've done more but wanted to let the shoulders deal with just that much for now. Pushups 30x bw 20x bw 30x bw 20x bw We'll see if I can get up again tomorrow morning

Nice job dude, you're freakin' killing it out there. I kinda did the same thing in squats yesterday... did my warmup, threw 225 on, unracked it... and felt the wrong kind of pressure on my back. I tried to move it around a bit and almost tweaked my shoulder doing so, so I slapped it back on and reevaluated. Checked to make sure my shoulder was ok, then I waited a few mins and attempted again, and it felt a lot better that time. Was kind of in a blah mood yesterday, so maybe I was subconsciously trying to avoid heavy weight, who knows? I had a wtf moment with military dumbell presses too.. just couldn't hit the weight I wanted. Guess we had weird days, eh? Way to kick through it and get an epic gun pump out though, gotta have fun sometimes!