wolfhound665

It was worth it. In fact there is a climbing gym opening by my work that I'm going to sign up for if I can figure out how to fit it into my schedule. Yeah, it did help me. So final closing thoughts on my first challenge...I didn't do as well as I'd liked. I drank more than I would have liked. 1-2 a day every other day and just don't ask about Thanksgiving. The workouts were sporadic. On the positive side I did walk most days at lunch. I've started back in trying to do micro workouts during the day. On to the next challenge... or maybe just focus on basic nutrition and consist good habits. Wolfhound

Thanks for the support. Food's been so so. I got several lunch time walks in last week. Over the weekend my daughter and I tried out a 35' climbing wall at the YMCA of the Rockies. I'm scared of heights and we were running out of time so I was going to bail but my daughter saw this and even though she really didn't want to do it said she wanted to do it with me and we went. I made it to the top on two different routes and the feeling of letting go of the wall to let the auto-belayer and the actual belayer lower you down was a serious leap of faith for me. It was actually fun. I don't know if it classifies as twenty seconds of courage or not. Today was a snow day from work. We got around 16" of snow. I had intended to workout this morning but was glad I didn't. I shoveled a path in the backyard for the dogs to do their business and shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. Took a good hour. I'm beat Time to make dinner. Miso Shiru and rice with takuan. Wolfhound

Well <hangs head in shame> It's been a rough week. Almost no exercise (got a few lunch time walks in), diet was fine up until Thursday night then it nosedived. Ate too much, drank more than I should have... I'd blame the goings on of the week but really if I'd held fast I could have. Might have been too grumpy if I had held fast so I don't know. Bright sides...I did walk. Even though I over ate several meals and drank a few too many drinks I was good about the food overall. My weight is still down so I didn't throw the balance off too much. Goal for this week is to get back to the garage gym and eat properly. Fingers crossed I can do it all week. Have a good week everyone. Wolfhound

They have to be ready, it can't be forced. What's it that Dave Ramsey says...You have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. Another good day. I've hit all my workouts (even walked at lunch), parked at the far end of the parking lot at work, eaten only the things I brought with me (vs being sucked into the work cafeteria snack area of doom). I've kept the lifts light. Tomorrow I'm planning on doing snatches and OH squats. will probably be really light. The dumbbell OH squats showed my that my balance isn't what it should be and I need to focus on it as well. Wolfhound

She's been reading through the mindset section. Soon she'll be doing a challenge. It's a good thing to have support in the home. Today was a pretty good day. Ate correctly and cleanly. Got a short walk in at lunch, did my lifts tonight. Loss of sleep is my big hiccup. Gotta figure out how to get more. On to tomorrow! Wolfhound

I agree on the taking time. Get your form solid at light weights. Treat every lift like you have 500# on your back. Perfect form whether it's the bar or your working weight. Thanks Xena, I used to run every day when I did Weight Watchers in my early thirties. Never over 5 miles and I actually started getting the runners high which I never expected. I've got a jog scheduled for my Saturdays. Hopefully I will manage it. I'm hopeful that I can get my groove back. Last week I was focused on figuring out the whole challenge thing and trying to get a handle on food. Halloween kinda cratered the food side of things. But this weekend I looked at what I want to do for my workouts and divided them up and created a schedule. So last night I ran out and bought groceries and we had pitas, carrot sticks, and some chips (should throw them out) and I baked a few sweet potatoes. I got up this morning got dressed and went to lift, realized I forgot to put my hunting gear away and had to spend some time doing that. Realized I didn't have time for it all and just focused on some solid lighter squats and weighted lunges. I'll make up for it by walking at lunch and doing gym workout 6A tonight at a lighter weight. Finished the workout and took a couple baked sweet potatoes and diced them and sauted them with spinach at my daughter's request and topped with a couple fried eggs. On a side note I showed my wonderful wife the site and she signed up for it as well. Wolfhound

It's really about consistent training, adding weight to the bar and not getting scared or the iron or letting your ego/competitiveness get you in trouble. That said you also can't get frustrated when someone out lifts you. On the second meet outside of the teen class I was probably the second weakest male lifter there. I would have been the weakest if the 70 year old gentleman hadn't had shoulder surgery that spring ("Doctor told me not to lift but <shrug> it's what I do so..."). The human body can do so much. It's really amazing.

For my third lifts I squatted 300#, benched 185#, and deadlifted 365#. Two years later I did 315#, 198.5#, and 385# respectively. A few months ago I was squatting 3x3@285#, benching 3x4@165# and deadlifting 3x3@300# If I can just get my mindset back on the diet and training I could get back to those numbers in March. Wolfhound

You made me LOL. :-)

Thanks Harriet! I've done two meets so far (every two years and I want to change that). The association I compete in is very friendly and supportive. I feel very self conscious about myself as well but when you step onto the platform to compete the most amazing thing happens. Everything around you just vanishes. It's just you, the bar and the head judge. The first time I walked up to the bar there was a group of young ladies having a very loud and animated conversation in the first row behind the judges. As soon as I took up the weight of the bar it's like I had tunnel vision and their voices vanished. It was amazing. Everyone I've talked to seems to have the same experience (though I'm sure some don't, we're all different right?). I would say go for it. As for burpees... We Hates them, nasty exhausting exercise!(done in my best Golum voice) :-)

Thanks for the reply. So if I dropped it to one drink a week and no eating after 7pm it would be better? I can do that.

Hi all, I'm Wolfhound (was Wolfhound665 but decided to drop the digits off) I'm on the cusp of 50 and have fallen off the wagon of fitness and nutrition. In my 30's I ran every day and lifted light. in my early 40's I discovered powerlifting and crossfit and did that for 6 years, then injured myself and rolled over to self defense for 10 months'ish and then back to 6 months of crossfit before realizing I just wasn't motivated to have someone program 3x25 burpees into my workout and dropped off the fitness map, rolled into the local tavern and started enjoying brews a bit too much. So after a elk season realizing the extra 30 lbs I've put on in the last few years (eat big, lift big right?) are hindering me more than helping I've decided I need to drop lots of weight and get back to some form of programming. To do this I intend to: Main Quest Prepare for the spring powerlifting meet To do this I will: Clean up my diet. One alcoholic drink a week Minimize snacking (10am and 2pm) and only eat fruits, veggies or nuts for snacks. Stop eating after 7pm Get back to 80/20 paleo or at least cooking at home most of the time. Introduce conditioning work Kettlebells, slamballs, and jump rope are my friends Reestablish my strength training routine. Start with Starting Strength intermediate level at a safe weight and increase until I'm close to my old lifts. Stretch and roll out every night. I'm 5'7 1/2 (I'm shrinking darn it!) and currently weigh in at 195. I would like to get down to the 165-175 range. Running any distance at my current weight causes my knees to ache. My last powerlifting meet I weighed in at 190, the one before that was 179. The strength I gained was not worth the weight I gained so I need to rebalance things. @Hazard Did I do this thing right for a first challenge? Wolfhound

Thank you for the welcome. I haven't measured myself but I'm still wearing size Levis Athletic fit jeans in size 34 and they are comfortable. Before I did weight lose at 205 (my highest) I was about to go into size 38s (which caused the decision to lose weight way back when). I should really break out the sewing tape. As a point of reference two months ago when I was sick with a stomach bug I did 3x3 deadlift @ 300# (competition 1rm was 385# 3 years ago) and squatted 3x4@285# (1rm in comp was 315#). I can still do a couple pull-ups in a row. The strength is still mostly there but I need to drop weight (I prefer to do powerlifting meets at a lower weight) and make it so running isn't jarring my knees so much.

So where to begin? I'm almost 50 and I have lurked following the blog posts for a few years. in my thirties I used weight watchers to go from 205 to 153 and enjoyed running 5 miles a day without any effort. Then I lost my job and went up to 165, Found a job and went up to 185, changed jobs and found crossfit. Dropped to 165 got strong and felt the best in my life. Started trying to do eat big lift big (because powerlifting) and increased my lifts but brought my body weight to 195. Sadness. So here I am. I am a ranger. I love functional fitness and powerlifting. I've done two meets and hope that Nerd Fitness can get my weight back down and keep my strength up. My goal is to do two powerlifting meets a year but I love wandering the Rocky mountains here in CO but my weight makes my knees ache if I try to run too much so I definitely need to drop weight. So here I am. Hail and well met fellow travelers. Oh and if you play ESO or Elite Dangerous and see someone with Wolfhund, wolfhoud, in their name it's probably me (carry over from the 90 's when I GM'ed a Mechwarrior game and let a friend load up with heavy mechs and annihilated him with Wolfhounds.). Oh and I've been a software tester for over 20 years so my nerdiness is to an extreme but I'm also an artist so I'm just an eclectic mess. Wolfhound665