Mad Sci

Allergies are acting up today making it hard to breathe. However, NO EXCUSES! Hit the gym and knocked out the Warrior Week 1 challenge. Squatted out 25 reps at 95 pounds. Gonna try for 50 on Thursday and Saturday. We'll see what happens. Hit the Bench after the squats. 10@95, 5@105, 5@115 and 1@135. Moved on to some Lat Pulldowns: 140/150/155/165lbs 5 reps each. Tonight, Softball doubleheader. Go Reckless Abandon!

And... done! BW 180, knocked out 25 reps at 95. Felt like I could have gone more but I got stuff to do tonight and I'm gonna need to use my legs. I'll probably try for the 50 on Thursday or Saturday.

Ho Lee Crap Dude. The day I say, "Real surprised to see how easy and fast 315 went up" will be the day I know I've made it. Cheers!

That sounds incredibly interesting but incredibly difficult to study. Good luck!

Best of luck with your goals. Don't stress too much about what you've done so far. Each day is a new start and a new chance to make the right decisions. Maybe instead of brownie bites, you grab an apple instead. Instead of playing with your phone on your bed, you shut off the light. Little things can make a big difference not just in your health but in how you think about what you're doing.

Good Luck, Socks. Your goals seem both reasonable and awesome. What books are you looking at?

ood Work, my friend! Way to show that bar who's boos! Good luck on your life goal. I hope she reciprocates.

Tried the Barbell with the OHP today. Felt good. Felt like a man. Was able to knock out 5 reps at 85 pounds on my final set. So I may need to adjust my goal to 105lbs with the barbell by the end of the challenge. Total OHP 10@45, 5@65, 5@75, 5@80, 5@85. Then I deadlifted a bit, 5@135, 5@165, 5@175. Didn't feel special and didn't want to push myself too hard because I had softball practice tonight. Also, I practiced softball. It was fun. Tomorrow is our last game so I'll probably take my workout fairly easy so I put in a peak performance.

Good luck, Rock! As a huge fan of the squat, I strongly encourage you to conquer it. Reservations be damned!

Good luck! I like your goals, especially the last one. A dissertation seems like a big deal and something that is very deserving of your time.

I love that you're not giving yourself a pass when you're not home. For the money, my best advice (what little I have) is pay yourself first. When you get your check throw what you can into a savings account and do not touch it. It helped me get to $1200 in a few months.

Whoa, you're on a whole other level then I am with the weights... and the no alcohol. I actually have a weekly appointment with a co-worker to drink and complain about work.

You're squatting 160lbs trying to get to 200lbs. I'm squatting 165lbs trying to get to 200. Good sir, I intend to make this personal. Challenge?

I don't know why I use dumbbells instead of barbells for the OHP. It's just what I did when I started and kinda kept with it out of habit, I guess. Next time I hit the gym, which should be tomorrow, I'll give it a shot and see what I can do. Princess Heather - I fixed the points! Thanks for letting me know, I'm still trying to get the hang of this thing. WeirdQuark - I've been trying to do that with my credit card but I would like to make a larger dent. Ultimately, I want to be back at zero balance but that's going to take a lot longer then 6 weeks. Fink - Sometimes I've even gone so far as to prepare a weeks worth of lunches at one time, that works pretty well. My biggest struggle is when I need to go to the grocery store but my old friend laziness kicks in. Jabba - Juvenile Corrections is interesting. I enjoy being a resource and a role model for some young men who really don't have any. However, it is immensely frustrating trying to work with some young men to make better decisions and then, more often then not, see them come right back to jail. We do the best with what we have but, like everyone, they won't change until they're ready.

My name is Mad Sci and I want to be able to pick up heavy things. Background: My name is Matt, I'm 27 years old and I work as a corrections officer for the worst kids in a not so rough metropolitan area. I'm married, no kids, with a dog. I enjoy playing video games, reading and watching TV. Most of all though I love to play sports, anything with a team. Football, Baseball, Soccer, Volleyball, anything. Lately, it seems as though my teams have become unreliable so I need to start taking a more personal approach to my little competitive streak. That's where I started lifting. Unfortunately, I'm not as strong as I thought I was (and all the weight I've put on since college is apparently not muscle). So I would like to head to a personal place that involves more, larger plates and less softer belly. Where I'm at: Height: 5'5.5" Weight: 175-180 lbs BF%: approx. 23% (according to my scale, which I don't trust) Bench: 5x125 lbs Deadlift: 5x180 lbs Squat: 5x165lbs Overhead Press: 5x40 (dumbbells) Last 5k time: 34 min. Goals: Since this is my first challenge, feel free to let me know whether I'm going to easy on myself. Goal #1: LIFT MORE! Increase each of the 4 above lifts by 20%. (BP: 150, DL:215, SQ: 200, OHP: 50) - 5 points STR Goal #2: RUN FASTER! Reduce my 5k time to sub 30 min. - 4 points DEX Goal #3: LESS SQUISHY! Reduce my BF% to under 19% - 3 points CON Goal #4: OWE LESS! Reduce my credit card debt by $1000 (currently sitting at $2450, would like to get it under $1400) - 3 points WIS Plan: Goal 1 & 2: The basic plan I have is to lift 4/week and run 3/week. Split between the deadlifts and shoulder press on Mondays and Wednesdays with Bench and Squat on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm gonna run on Deadlift days and then a longer run on Saturdays. Goal 3: Drink less soda, eat less McD's. Honestly, if I limit myself to one can of soda a day, I'd probably drop 10 pounds like it's nothing. Then if I cut out McD's I'd probably just be awesome. Goal 4: Take all that money I'm not spending on crappy food and put towards crappy debt. The thing that kills me is putting money back on after I pay it off. I need to put this thing in ice... or lead or something. So that's the plan, what do you think? Too easy? Too vague? Just right?

Welcome to NF, Shorty! You don't need to second guess yourself, if you eat right and get your exercise in, you'll be fine. In my humble opinion, counting calories just makes you neurotic about food. Just focus on eating good stuff. No worries, you'll do great.

I'm with you on the cycle of bad juju and the Chipotle. Good luck on your goals and welcome to NF!

Huge props on the weight loss, my friend.

Welcome, Pillow! Congrats on the weight loss and good luck on future work! I ran the Warrior Dash down here in KC and it was a blast! Good time and lots of good people. It's a challenge but I believe in you!

I can only assume what sledgehammer day is but I think I have a new name for Thursday.

I'm very glad to hear that. Just remember, if you need any support, guidance or just someone to talk to, we're hear for you.

Abbey is dead on with her advice. I go at like 3 p.m. before most people leave work, crank some punk rock and get it in. Even if there are people, they're usually more focused on what they need to do to concern themselves with you. Which is the attitude I like to have. I'm not at the gym for them, I'm there for me. My concern for you, however, is how you've lost wait. I know you said that you know it's a bad way but I don't want the results you got to dissuade you from trying a healthier more deliberate approach to weight-loss and fitness.

I actually have been using fitocracy (Code name: Bricker). I like it for keeping track of my exercises but I haven't really used it for much else. They've rolled out a bunch of new features lately but I haven't had a chance to play with them. I'd like to get more involved in the challenges here but I think I just jumped in at the middle of the current challenge.

I'm still a soda addict. I've tried to quit a few times but I keep crawling back...

I'm a huge fan of playing sports, especially team sports. I, also, don't like to lose. So in an effort to not be picked last in dodgeball/baseball/football/basketball, I try to keep myself in reasonable shape. The more I'm invested in my game, the more I work out. So, I recently joined a softball league and in the fall I'll probably try to join a basketball league. If nothing else, it keeps me active and gives me a reason to get faster, stronger, and better.