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I'm coming back after a large hiatus from NF but not such a large hiatus from lifting, although since December 2018 it has not been as frequent or the quality that I wanted. To put it simply, since December 2018 things went to shit! Buuuuuut here we are, closing out 2019, with an application put in for the January 2020 Novice Powerlifting Competition in Perth WA, (my 3rd) hoping to not truly embarass myself, and now having a very solid goal to work towards. A goal to become consistent with training once more, to take that leap and find a coach, to not sweat the small stuff and let it derail everything, and move forward without looking back because "we aren't going that way". My training program starts Monday the 23rd of October but I am starting the Challenge now, with a shed clean up and a couple of days just getting under the bar, moving and finding my bearings again. Looking froward to meeting new and old NF riends and working towards success.

Been reading NF blogs for a few days and thought I'd go ahead and join the forums - maybe even participate in the next 4-week challenge. I read the post about figuring our which 'race' I am based on my own real life - I think I'm an ogre. But I started improving my diet and doing some walking about 2-1/2 weeks ago, and I'm down from 330lbs to ~310. I know a lot of that is water weight, but I'm still hoping to lose 10+ pounds a month and be down another 50lbs by July, then maybe even down to 200 by 2018. I added the Basic Bodyweight Workout Circuit this morning - it kicked my @ss even with just one circuit (and even then I couldn't finish all the rep for each exercise), but I guess that's to be expected when my muscles aren't developed and my bodyweight is high. One nice thing about starting out in my condition is that there will be plenty of opportunities to LEVEL UP!

So, Introductions then? I'm a nineteen year old college student, and apparently, what they say about the freshman fifteen is for real. That being said, I wasn't in the best shape to begin with. Overall, my goal is to lose what I've gained, plus a little bit more, as well as to stop feeling so sluggish and heavy. Since I'm living with my family right now, I don't have access to a lot of equipment (a treadmill, primarily, and a cycling machine that's on campus), and progress may be slow going, but I'm okay with that for the time being. I can always go for runs outside or find other, no machine necessary ways to work out. I'm super glad to have found all of this, its just what I've been looking for to start this journey!

Just getting started. Never really did fitness. Went walking this morning and listened to HP book 4 while doing so. Something I need with something I like. Nerd fitness.

I haven't had time to put this together properly, but I need to get this started. I'll revise this post but the basic structure is going to stay the same. Part 1: Stronglifts. I'm going to continue my stronglifts progression at the typical 5#/workout. I did the last month in the morning, but for now I may switch to after work. I can superset chores with lifting for additional productivity and I won't feel rushed. Ultimately, I think this will help out with sleeping more. Goal: 12 sessions. Part 2: Diet. Last challenge, I tracked a lot and monitored the results. My take aways are this: my floor for calories/day is 2800. The last 4 days, I've been well north of 3000/day and dropped back down to 263 (from 270 post LA) as of this morning. I'm definitely not eating too much and as the lifts are getting heavy, I'm not going to split priorities. Getting stronger is priority 1. My minimum daily intake is 2800cal and 200 protein. My food quality is pretty good so I'm not going to get more specific than that. I do have one food related sub-challenge. Part 3: Sub-challenges: Ride my bike twice this month Drink (7) gallons of milk this challenge (milk fits my dietary/strength goals, a quart a day is not too challenging, and I want to up my calcium intake) Build a level platform in the basement for deadlift and press. Walk around the lake (10) times In bed 8 hrs/night. I can't necessary control how much I sleep sometimes, but I want to see how often I can hit this goal. Part 4: Adulting: 4 pts. Throw out the desk in the living room Throw out the recliner in the living room Replace the outlets in the basement Triage my wardrobe for things I should have thrown out long ago Fix the lawn mower (currently borrowing a lawn mower) Clean out the leaves in front of the house Throw out computer components in the closet Demo the ceiling in the downstairs room Build a top hat into the ceiling in the downstairs room Get a checkup. I'm due and I hate going to the doctor. Get my wisdom teeth pulled. My dentist said I should. I just need to arrange it prior to them becoming a problem. Finish the voice modulator (Halloween project 1). This counts whether it works or not. Make a meaningful progress towards getting my PE (take a practice exam, start a practice book, schedule the FE) Hang up a decorative item. Anything. Fix bathroom fan.

Mission 1: Stronglifts - I haven't consistently lifted in a long time and I'm coming off a 2-year stretch where I didn't do any chest or lat work because it felt like it would pull my shoulder out of the socket. In the fall, I had done enough rehab that I was cleared to play volleyball (which I never stopped, but I did switch to setting exclusively) and had no other restrictions. So now I'm going to start from square one, enjoy a period of newb-gainz, and see where I'm at. I'm going to start at 45# (65# for pulls from the floor), incrementing initially at 10# for squat, 20# for DL, and 5# for press, bench, and row. Accessory work will be centered around improving mobility and form for now. Goal: 12 sessions Mission 2: Mobility – I'm active and my shoulder is now firmly in the socket, but I'm severely immobile. I've been working on my lower body mobility in order to start out with some reasonable squat form. I took a broomstick and tested the low bar position. Turns out my shoulder mobility is also garbage. It'll take some stretching and rolling to get that ironed out. Luckily, the first few weeks shouldn't be too taxing and allow for more focus here. Goal: 16 sessions (I have to do mobility work prior to lifting anyway to get the correct ROM) Focus: Hips, calves, shoulders Mission 3: Stay active – On the days I'm not lifting, I need to get off my butt and do something. My activities would be: walk around the lake, bike to work, and volleyball. Walking around the lake and volleyball are both worth 1 point. I'll probably take the month off from volleyball anyway as we're in the only significant gap between seasons of the year. Biking to work I'm going to set at 3 points. It's 45 minutes each way plus I have to get up extra early to do it. I'll hold using the elliptical in reserve for rainy days. Goal: 12 points (if I bike to work once a week, I'd be happy with that) Mission 4: Diet – Here I'm not going to do much. I'm generally fairly high protein, fairly low carb, and I don't really focus on fat one way or the other other than to try and incorporate healthy fat sources. I do want to track what I eat regularly so I can document what my current diet is. This baseline will be important going forward. I'm thinking about 2000-2200 calories on a typical day (which is a deficit) and I'm prone to cheating when I go out which keeps my regular deficit from really adding up to faster weight loss. Goal: Track 20 days Mission 5: Life++ - I'm going to make a list of things I should have already done or need to do but regularly procrastinate or avoid. I figure if at the end of the month, I've gotten some of these things done, it'll be a vast improvement over the last 3 months where none of them have gotten done: Throw out the desk in the living room Throw out the recliner in the living room Replace the outlets in the basement Triage my wardrobe for things I should have thrown out long ago Fix the lawn mower (currently borrowing a lawn mower) Mount the bathroom towel rack Clean out the leaves in front of the house Throw out computer components in the closet Demo the ceiling in the downstairs room Build a top hat into the ceiling in the downstairs room Get a checkup. I'm due and I hate going to the doctor. Get my wisdom teeth pulled. My dentist said I should. I just need to arrange it prior to them becoming a problem. Finish the voice modulator (Halloween project 1). This counts whether it works or not. Make a meaningful progress towards getting my PE (take a practice exam, start a practice book, schedule the FE) Fix the shower knob Hang up a decorative item. Anything. Goal: Amass 4 points. Items not completed will roll over into the next challenge where I may increment their value, but also increase this goal. Prize: A strong performance in this challenge will reward one powerlifting belt (I'm thinking a Rogue Fitness Ohio belt).

I have never really run before. I did at school some 30+ years ago when we had to but nothing organised or even really for fun. I have been on here for a couple of years now and been using irregular exercise along with a much better diet to help me lose weight. I'm at a point now where I have lost 15 kg and when I started I was lucky to be able to walk 1km usually stopping when crippling back pain kicked in. A few months ago based on some sort of challenge in scouts on here I decided to try to run 1km and ended up doing 2km without stopping and once I recovered enough to catch my breath I was pretty chuffed with myself. After that I didn't really do anything. Just got on with life and dealt with some work stuff and didn't really think to much about exercise. Then at the start of June I just decided to try running again. My goal was 5km and I got there but there was lots of run, walk, run, walk moments and it took me 40 minutes. I ran a 5km parkrun for the first time last week and enjoyed/tolerated it. It took me 31 minutes. I have been mainly running on a treadmill at the gym and have managed a 29 minute 5km. I am entered into a 5km run at the end of July and it got me thinking about other goals. In the middle of October we have the Melbourne Marathon. While I think the full would be well beyond me I am starting to believe that I might be capable of the half. After all of that my question is do I need rigid program to work to for a half? Can you just use broad guidelines to build a base that will get you through? Are there many free, quality resources available? Thanks, Matt

Generally speaking, most of us probably know how to survive without depending on fast food and/or take-out. My cooking skills, and abilities, tend to fall in the realm of "apply fire, add tobasco, eat. If burned, add more tobasco." Ok, I kid - but not by much. With that in mind, the thought occurs that there might be others who are in a similar situation and actually want to improve their skills in the kitchen. So, post what you've got - websites, blogs, tutorials, whatever. I also wanted an excuse to post this neat website of "knife handling gifs (calm down - for the kitchen)": http://firstwefeast.com/eat/gif-tutorial-essential-knife-skills-with-a-mission-chinese-cook/ Found originally on the new Kinja food/cooking blog: http://skillet.lifehacker.com/introducing-skillet-a-lifehacker-blog-about-cooking-an-1683249301/+whitsongordon Also: I dunno how healthy this is, but it seems an interesting application for ramen: http://lifehacker.com/transform-ramen-into-a-crispy-breading-for-fried-chicke-1683252168

So, after reading all the knowledge databases and other posts on squatting I still have a newbie question. Very, very tall guy, reasonably novice lifter doing the basic strength building workout (squats, bench, dead lift / squats, press, rows 3x5 three nights a week). Very tight hamstrings, like insanely tight all the time, terrible mobility. I'm squatting 60kg (132 lbs) just now, but I have never gotten my thighs parallel with the ground. Even unloaded I can barely get down that far before the soles of my feet lift up. I've read all the posts on improving mobility, spiderman stretches and couch stretches, and plan on applying these to my warm up before my lifts tonight. But my actual question is should I deload and focus on getting the form good or should I keep going and the form will come? I feel like a lot of my problem, on top of my very poor hip mobility, is having baby week glutes and abs and the only way that's going to improve is moar lifting.

Hey guys I have a question for ya. Would it be beneficial to do yoga routines in between work outs on rest days? I'm a beginner trying to build up some muscle and strength and the idea just popped into my head. I've never done yoga before so some basic routines and tips would be much appreciated.

Hey Rebels, I live in Sacramento, CA. I'm about to join the Crunch Fitness gym. I was wondering if there are any novice, beginner, and even advanced exercisers who believe in free weights and are looking for somebody to work out with? A little about me: Name: Jerome Height: 6'0" Weight: 260 lbs (Goal weight: 230 lbs) Goal: Taking it one step at a time. Want to be 30 lbs lighter by June 2013 and be in better shape for Taekwondo. Then set a new goal after the first 30 is gone. Steps I'm taking to get there: 1) DIET: Slowly but surely looking to convert to Paleo. Will be seeing a Nutritionist this Thursday to be put on a program. And I plan on buying Paleo recipe books. Reason I'm going this route: belly fat is my main issue and I feel that starchy carbs, as well as my sugar addiction are the reasons why it hasn't disappeared. 2) EXERCISE: a) Free weights: Build strength, stamina and to ensure I use the correct form for getting in shape. Purpose: To build muscle. Running: Cardio purposes and for endurance. Purpose: To burn fat and because I love running. Doing both of these should help me accomplish my goals in learning the art of Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo. To be specific: I'm looking for workout partners for the purpose of motivation and hopefully to establish a brotherhood. Like Steve says, it takes a team to help accomplish goals. Novices: We can help each other as iron sharpens iron. Experts: I can learn from you so I can get better. So if you're looking for somebody that you can either teach, or train with, I'm game! One Love NF

I'm probably younger than most people on this site. I'm in college, but I've been out of my shape for most of my life. A year or two ago, I joined a gym that offered some circuit training classes, which really boosted my fitness level, but I'm no fitness pro. I've since grown weary of having to go and suck from the teet of the great, bloated cow that is the franchise gym. I want to learn what the trainers there know and be able to take control of my own fitness, rather than relinquishing control to them. I'm hoping I can learn from this site and from it's members. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would all allow me to extensively pick your brains, because I have a lot to learn.