Search the Community

Hey guys, my name is Jeremy and this will be challenge number two for me. Starting a tad late but I'm already well on my way towards my goal. In my first challenge, my main goal was to obtain what I considered a healthy lifestyle and while I'm still implementing new changes to my eating and fitness habits I've made a LOT of progress. My main goal for this challenge now that I have what I feel to be a good foundation is STRENGTH. I've been a musician since high school but lifting and moving gear has always left me extremely exhausted. Being the bass player I have some of the heaviest equipment and have always felt like I was the weakest of any group I was a part of. Today I have the heaviest gear I have ever owned and it's time that I stepped up to the plate and grew my confidence and strength so that I don't "purposefully" grab all of the lightest gear or have to ask for help all the time. That being said here are my mini-quests that will help me work towards that goal. Goal#1 - Three full-body workouts a week. The challenging part will be doing this while traveling or touring. For instance, we go on tour tomorrow and I won't be back home 'til Sunday. Most of the band is aware of my goals and have similar goals, we call it "Hard Bod-ing" or "Hard Bod 2015" So rest assured I still plan to workout while on tour. I began with the BBWW from the Nerd Fitness blog and my new workout will be similar but will be more challenging on the arms. My last workout was this: 3 circuits of 25 squats 13 lunges (per leg) 15 elevated push-ups (I use my coffee table for this) 5 pull ups I plan to increase the reps or difficulty of the workout each week. A: 18 workouts (+3 STR, +2 DEX) B: 15-17 workouts (+2 STR, +1 DEX) C: 11-16 workouts (+1 STR) F: 10 or less (nothing) Goal#2 - Meal prep healthy paleo meals for lunches every Sunday We are meal prepping for the tour tonight but this should also be a weekly thing. It's something my wife and I have tested out a couple times and honestly love, it saves so much time and money too which is a bonus. A: meal prep 6 weeks (+3 CON) B: meal prep 4-5 weeks (+2 CON) C: Meal prep 1-3 weeks (+1 CON) F: no weeks (nothin') Goal#3 - 20 minutes Interval Training two times a week Strength is a goal but so is endurance and stamina. I jump around on stage, A LOT! By the end of our set, I'm normally exhausted and there's a big group vocal thing we do at the end of our finishing song. I need to be able to sing long extended notes with good breath capacity. Interval training has been great for that so far and I want that to continue to get better. My goal here will be to actually be running the whole time. I normally start walking after about 85%-90% sprints... A: 12 runs (+3 STA, +2 DEX) B: 6-11 Runs (+2 STA, +1 DEX) C: 3-5 runs (+2 STA) F: less than three (nothin') Personal Goal: Time Management and Stress Reduction I'm going to give myself two avenues here. Things have been getting insanely busy and I'm having a really hard time managing my time and it's starting to give me some pretty bad anxiety and stress. I bought a Passion Planner which I'm really excited about so my goal here will be one of these two things DAILY: Take 15-30 minutes each day, plan/update my planner OR Take 15-30 minutes a day to relax, meditate, stretch, breath, do yoga, just some time to think really so that I'm not driving myself insane. A: 30-42 days (+2 WIS) B: 22-29 days (+1 WIS) C: 10-21 days (+0 WIS) F: less than 10 (nothin') All in all, I am making progress, it's been going REALLY great. I posted a two month progress photo in my last challenge and I'm starting to feel addicted. I can't wait to see what three months will look like, four months, five months and so on. If you'd like to follow my bands journey please follow us on our socials or my socials. I'll be posting a lot about it here as well - www.facebook.com/shadowofwhales www.twitter.com/shadowofwhales www.instagram.com/shadowofwhales www.youtube.com/shadowofwhalesband

Hi everyone! I'm new to the nerdfitness.com community as a poster, though I've read it off-and-on for a little while. I'm 22, female and I live in Brisbane, Australia. I was born in New Zealand (hence my natural affinity for the All Blacks) though I am now a citizen of both NZ and Australia. I find the ethos of bb.com a bit too intense for me, I'm not overly interested in competing with other people. I have been everywhere from morbidly obese to diagnosably anorexic in the last 10 years... While I suffer from PTSD, depression and anxiety, when I was going through puberty I was (wrongly) put on anti-psychotics which made me gain a heck of a lot of weight at an age where I couldn't necessarily be accountable for it (9-12 yo.). That (and other things) pushed me into a lot of disordered eating habits. Now I am 22, 174cm tall and last I checked about 70kg. When I was 18 I was in the 54-58kg range and worked out 1.5 to 2 hours a day. I was obsessive, allowed myself to take fat burners to the point where it affected my mood and I also became carb-o-phobic. I did feel good about my body though. I wasn't just doing a s**t-tonne of cardio. Now that I'm a little bit older, a working musician (I play viola) and full time uni student (law and politics) I want to feel better about my body. I need to gain endurance in my core, back and shoulders for my viola playing. The viola is the least ergonomic instrument in modern society, to my knowledge. It is also far more difficult than violin due to the dimensions and weight. I also recently started playing Wow. I'm a longtime fan of Star Trek, Firefly, Stargate, Buffy, and the original Star Wars and Die Hard movies. I really need to get more comfortable with free weights. I've previously used machines which I feel ok with but it doesn't make sense to use machines if it makes me feel like my core or back is out of whack during the last set. Yesterday I signed up to a 24/7 gym that is one block behind my apartment. I can't really go out for walks at night because I live in a "red light district". I'm find walking to the gym, but I wouldn't want to go anywhere without cameras. I've belonged to other gyms in the past but since I'm a musician (read: weird work hours, weird sleep hours) and student, a 24 hour gym suits me better. Also, at the big brand gyms people keep trying to sell me stuff when I'm just getting "into the zone"! Enough about me. Hi! I'm here! Cheers, Kate PS I've been a vegetarian for nearly a decade

Recently I have been pretty insterested in adding some bodyweight exercises to my workout regiment. I am a runner and that has pretty much been it. I can run for a long time but can not do pull ups and push ups to save my life. Time to change that. I have been attracted more to bodyweight stuff because I am a musician (a cellest) and bodyweight exercises target many of the muscles that I use on the daily while I am practicing and playing, but at the same time fit into my schedlue better then traditional gym workouts. I also just like the idea better of using my own body vs using weights, can't really explain why it just resonates with me better. So while I am not a beginner to exercise (I dont have motivation issues, etc) I am a begginer to this type. So something that I can scale up over time would be very ideal. also if anyone has some reading material they think would be up my alley I would love to hear about that as well. here is the good stuff Fitness Goals 1. Improve range of motion in back and arms 2. Improve strength of my back and arms to help with playing and injury prevention 3. 3 days a week of exercise and 3 days a week of cardio (preferably running becuse i like it ) 4. improve all around strenght and flexibility Exercise Preference Body weight Current Physical Stats Gender-Male Age-20 Height-5,11 Weight-145 Previous Training History Past Programs-n/a How long- Present Program -lots of running and yoga (not so much yoga now). Have been doing a modified version of the advanced BW workout posted here for a week or so. I alsodid the fitness blender "brutal bodyweight workout" a couple of times. How long-about 2 years Current working weights-n/a Current Diet Normal- I eat pretty healthy. 100% whole grains, clean protine, and minimal sugars and other bad stuff. I dont do shakes or other things, I try to eat real food. I have pretty good controll over my food situation becuase I like to cook, so no easy mac. Daily Calories- Try not to count, I usualy just go by portions, but I probably need to eat more lol Daily Macros-same. havent really thought about it. Current Resources/Limitations Gym Access-going back to school in the fall so I will have a gym but I really dont like gyms. Can make it work though. Work/School Schedule-student. So that means busy. but again, I can make it work! Time Allowed-30-60 minutes a day would be ideal. modified BW workout 10 1 leg squats (not pistol, the ones where you put your leg behind you) 20 squats 20 walking lunges 20 step ups 5 negative pull ups at 5 seconds a each 10 dips 5 negative chin ups at 5 seconds 10 push ups 14 jackknife crunches 45 second plank repeat 3 times as fast as possible also if someone has a good benchmark test that I can do to help people understand my fitness level better I would be down to hear it.