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Okay, so I'm new here, but I've been stalking the blog for a week or so. Found that article about Spezzy and it really made me think. Anyhow, so I've been doing this mix of strength and cardio workout from a postpartum exercise book. Phase 3 was basically body weight moves (lunges, squats, pushups, among others) with cardio in between (I think it was HIIT, because I was stepping up and down with a stool for two minutes at normal stair-climbing pace and two minutes at stair jogging pace). Not bad, but it was the same every day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks, and I'm down to 2 days to go to finish--and can't wait! I will NEVER do a program that is the same every day again. Ever. I did up some reps on the pushups (and increased from all knee to some full-length) and added a bit of weight to some of the lunges and squats these last two weeks, but still, I'm ready for a change. I decided to start the modified version of the Advanced Body Weight routine next week. Here's my general plan: Sunday: Cardio of some kind (HIIT walk/run if the weather cooperates, or maybe Kenpo X from P90X if it doesn't) Monday: ABW Tuesday: Yoga Wednseday: ABW Thursday: Yoga or Cardio Friday: ABW Saturday: Rest (or maybe a leisurely walk with the family at most) Here are some stats about me: Age: 32 Mom of 3 (youngest is 10 months) I'm vegetarian (so please don't even try to talk me into Paleo--it's not happening) Height: 5'6" Current weight: 146-148 (the scales lie, so I don't pay much attention) Waist: 32.75" (down 1 1/4" in almost 4 weeks on the aforementioned boring program--which is why I say the scales lie) Hips: 41.25" (down 1 1/4" in the same time period) Diet: Currently lacto/ovo vegetarian, nursing my 10-month-old. Calories vary from around 1800 to over 2100, depending on the day. I calculate my calories based on a 500 deficit, add back 300 for breastfeeding, and eat most or all of my exercise calories. I've been using My Fitness Pal to calculate calories, but only for about a month, and I'm going to quit counting, now that I have a better idea of how much I need to feel satisfied, and just go based on my hunger. I'll go back to counting if I find myself eating too much. I also plan on weighing myself on Sunday and putting the scales away until I've done 4 weeks of the new program. I will measure myself every Sunday morning, though. So, what advice would you have? Like I said, I'm not going to be religious with my calorie counting now, but if I were to count, say, one or two days a week, I think I would rather base it on my TDEE and not the way MFP calculates it. However, I'm not sure how I should calculate my TDEE. Should I be eating more generally or only on days when I do the strength training? Also, would it be okay to add weights to the lunges and squats, since I've already been doing that? We're talking say, 16-24 lb (progressing up, since I'll be using 16 lb Friday), nothing major. I don't have heavy weights, just some dumbbells that are sort of flat on one side so I can fit two together and increase the weight. I can't do a pullup to save my life, so I'm using step one from the How to do a pull up finally blog post instead of pullups and for chin ups, using the table with knees bent enough to make it challenging (will progress by straightening legs over time). Please, only serious advice. I'm not sure how the forums here are, but sometimes on MFP there are people who get snarky, and I don't need that. I've been exercising consistently for almost 10 weeks (as in, only missed a couple of days in that time) and am seeing results in how I look and feel, and I am determined to be successful. I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can with what I have. The pic below was taken today. I'll take another in 4 weeks to compare. Hoping I can button those pants by then!

Hey everyone! Im gonna be starting my first 6 week challenge as follows: My goals- weight- 185lbs / 16-17% body fat. currently at 207lbs / 23% body fat (according to army Ht/Wt, Neck/ stomach tape test) Strength- APFT push ups/sit ups at 65/75 respectively, currently at 48/50 (although i usually do about 60 s/u) speed/endurance- 14:45 2 mile, currently at a 15:25 level up challenge- stop biting my nails. (sound stupid but its harder than i thought!) Work out plan-Rushfit, 6 days a week in the morning. with interchanging cardio/strength training at night. Basic idea- Lift Heavy, run fast diet- 75% paleo, its hard to be good eating out of an Army DFAC. plus it seems that my "lunch meal" may soon be replaced with MRE's. (thanks sequester!) aiming for 1600-1800 cal/day This is my first challenge so im not sure what else to put. feel free to leave suggestions and they may just work their way into an edit! Theres more info in the Second post! just updated 23APR

I'm Harley* and this all started a while ago when I came across this. I'm a sharkie, you see (that is, the affectionate nickname the Black Milk team gives to the people who buy their products) and I was browsing the store (my heart aflutter, my wallet whimpering) when I came across the wet look long sleeve catsuit and thought to myself "welp, I've got no excuse to not become a super villain now." I've got the start to my costume, now I need a volcano lair, some henchmen, and to fill out my application to the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Of course, what's stopping me now is the fact that when I do finally pour myself into that catsuit (okay, less of a pouring and more of a shoving and grunting and "GET THE BABY POWDER"-ing) I definitely will not look like the gorgeous girl that is modelling it! I've always been thin, and tall. When I complain about my belly pooch my friends roll their eyes. I'm a casual runner (mid-distance, 15k road runs are my usual go-to) but running on it's own doesn't make me FIT. I want to go from being skinny to being super villain sexy, and, of course, to feel good while I do it. And knowing myself, this isn't something I'll stick to unless I'm accountable for it (I would have never started running if I hadn't been in a group! And now I've been running for over two years). So here I am, laying myself out for all of you to poke and prod at (and to get a little help in the mean time.) The low-down: I'm skinny, this we've covered. I've got super skinny, long (gorilla) arms and runner's legs (which I will admit are nice) but I gained some weight this past winter (went from 105 to 125 lbs) that accumulated in my gut that I can't seem to lose (Ninja edit: I also suffer from adult ADD and as I am averse to taking chemical medications, I would love to test if exercise and meditation will help). The pros: My mom's a fitness junkie- she bribed me into running by paying for my first class and buying me my first pair of shoes. My brother in law is a licensed CanFitPro professional trainer. I live in a gorgeous area, down the road from a gym, a little further down the road from a women's-only fitness centre, and seem to have all of the amenities right at my disposal, but... The cons: Good god am I lazy. I get up in the morning and lay around for a bit before making coffee to satisfy my hunger. And not even real coffee, keurig coffee. I can't even be bothered to measure out beans and water. And grains? Don't even get me started! Pasta! Pizza! Wraps! Man, a flat piece of bread, throw some shit in there, throw some hot sauce on it, wrap it up, it's good! And BEER. There is NOTHING BETTER than to walk down the steps to the beach with a bottle of beer. The darker the better. The plan: Something's gotta give here, because clearly the jealousy-inducing metabolism I've had for 24 years is starting to get sick of me. I'd like to dabbe in paleo- I'm willing to give up grains and find alternatives to my favourite dishes (spaghetti squash! Zucchini lasagna! Nori wraps!) but oh my god, I love beer. I'd like to do a bit of strength training to build up my arms (I need more space before I can get sleeve tattoos) and do more yoga, as well as my already established running routine. So, my friends, prod away! Ask questions, make suggestions, demand animal sacrifices, I'm open to anything that can help me get started at this point! *name changed to protect the anti-social.

Hi all! My name is Chris and I wanted to utilize this board a lot more. I tried it once before and introduced myself and my story. Last year 2012 was a tough year for me, I lost my job, lost my girlfriend, left college, and my sister tried to take her life. All in all it was a really tough year for me and my family. Thankfully I had exercise to carry me through. I recently found a job, joined a gym, and I am trying to get back into school. I am turning thirty in two weeks and feel kind of down I am not where I should be in life. Should I just keep strength training and getting stronger and try to push through? Should I balance going back to college while working an okay full-time job? It is important for me to make it far in life for my sister. Any tips would be appreciated! Thank you all and I hope I can become a more active member on here.

Day 1 Thursday 25 April 2013 Decided am unhappy with lack of motivation, thought I'd start this challenge (a bit late, but better than waiting for the next one!). Food: Toast for breakfast, toast and tea for lunch, noodle salad for dinner. (Not on any weird fast or diet; overate yesterday and no appetite today. Normal meals resume tomorrow). Activity: Brisk 1 hour walk as part of university-related madness. I live on the top of a hill = thighs of steel. Mood: Tired/sad. Productivity: Almost nil. (Other than printing, collating and sending out notification letters for a survey I'm doing).

SuperDude is a nickname from being called "Dude" most of my life and adding the hero part to it because that's what I am for my kids. I am starting this challenge from a good place. I have been working on my fitness for two years now, starting with running and eating better and lost 20 lbs of fat. I then realized I didn't want a runner's body and started working out, using beachbody's programs and then following Nerd Fitness program and lifting weights this last winter. I followed the GOMAD diet for two months to bulk up. That worked pretty well, as I gained back 20 lbs of mostly muscle and have since slimmed most of the fat back off. Starting weight: 180 lbs. Age: 35 Starting Lifts: 200 lb. barbell bench press max, 225 lb. squat, 20 pullups in a row, 225 lb. X 5 deadlift. Goals: 1. De-clutter the garage to regain my Man Cave so I can have room to work out and watch movies on the big screen. Feeling lost without somewhere to retreat. I will do this by selling anything we don't use, and use that money toward a running stroller and anything else fitness related for the man cave to work out with. I will first try selling using internet, and then garage sale the rest. 2. Follow my marathon training plan by running 3 days a week with one day of easy, one of tempo/speed, and one long run. I will accomplish this by continuing my morning habit of waking up an hour and a half early to run or workout. Each morning I will plan out my run and follow the prescribed paces. 3. Follow a strength training program 3 days a week to keep up the muscle I have gained (maintain max lifts) and keep/gain core strength to avoid running injury. I will do this by reducing the number of sets I do to 2 instead of 3, while increasing the reps I do on each exercise from 6-8 to 10-12. I will create a workout plan mixing Nerd Fitness dumbbell battalion schedule with a runner's strength training program. 4. Stay off the junk food for the entire 6 weeks...this means no candy, no fries or chips, no soda. Eat only things that are in alignment with my fitness goals (healthy). I will do this by refusing any treats offered to me and not buying any junk food at the store. I will throw out anything currently in my house that is considered junk food.

This is my 2nd challenge so far, but my first one as a Scout. I'm starting a bit late as I have been away on business travel since Monday and I didn't have a chance to post before now. Fitness Goals: 1. Complete 2 day charity bike ride (Breathe NH) on May 18 and 19. In order to achieve this goal, I am following this training plan: Apr 15 Tue 10 - 15 mi, Thu 10 - 15 mi, Sat/Sun 30 - 40 mi Apr 22 Tue 10 - 15 mi, Thu 10 - 15 mi, Sat/Sun 30 - 40 mi Apr 29 Mon 10-15 mi, Wed 10-15 mi, Fri 10-15 mi, Sat/Sun 40-50 mi May 6 Mon 10-15 mi, Wed 10-15 mi, Fri 10-15 mi, Sat/Sun 40-50 mi May 13 (week of ) Mon 8-10 mi, Tue 3-5 mi, Wed 8-10 mi, Thu 3-5 mi. Note, the specific days of the week are flexible and I am also taking total mileage in a week into account, i.e. a shorter ride than planned on one day can be "made up for" by a longer ride on another day. Scoring: Complete 2 full days of charity ride (day 1 distance 45 mi, day 2 distance 32.7 miles) and meet 75% of training plan: A. Do not complete 2 full days, but meet 85% of training plan: B. Do not complete 2 full days, but meet 75% of training plan: C. Do not complete 2 full days, but meet 50% of training plan: D. Do not complete 2 full days and meet less than 50% of training plan: F. STA 5 2. Continue strength training 2 days per week: day 1: bench press 5 sets of up to 5 reps; bent over rows 5 sets of up to 5 reps; squats 5 sets of up to 5 reps day 2: deadlift 1 warm up set of 5 reps, 1 full weight set of up to 5 reps; squats 5 sets of up to 5 reps; standing shoulder press 5 sets of up t o 5 reps Scoring: 90% of plan: A 80% of plan: B 70% of plan: C 60% of plan: D Less than 60% of plan: F STR 3 STA 1 Diet Goal: 1. Limit fried foods to avg of 1 per week (not including 1st week of challenge). Scoring: <= 5 fried foods: A 6 - 7: B 8 - 9: C 10 - 11: D 12+: F CON 3 Level up life goal: Complete the following household tasks: 1) Clean all of the junk off of the kitchen table. 2) Organize the pantry. 3) Get quote from landscaping company to install patio / hot tub. 4) Get quote from construction company to look at roof and to replace sliding glass door. 5) Clean out the floor of the hall closet. Scoring: all 5 tasks complete: A 4 tasks complete: B 3 tasks complete: C 2 tasks complete: D < 2 tasks complete: F WIS 3

Hey everyone I'm new here and new to my new program i started a few days ago. Ive done cardio kick boxing for a few years on and off with no real diet. Ive gone through a few phases of gym weights which consisted of resistance machines that i found out later are doing most of the stabilizing for me also without diet. My results have varied from adding some muscle and losing some weight but never the results I've wanted (although the effort I've put in has always been average) Im 23, 183lbs, 5"10 i want to lose my belly fat but gain muscle in the process. I am now doing full Paleo. Heavy lifts such as deadlift, bench press, front and back squats, pull ups (which i hope to add weights too), and some other bodyweight exercises and not to forget some isolation like bicep curls. This is what yesterday looked like: Meals: Breakfast: eggs white omelete, + cooked veges and 4 hard boiled egg whites. Lunch: egg white omlete, mince, cooked veges(egg plant, pumpkin) 2 sirloin steak 4 egg whites Dinner: 3 steam chicken. Steamed veges (pumpkin, chinese cabbage) Workout: Morning: pull ups 10/10/10 with resistance aid band. Bicep curls 45pounds (bar) / 65pounds/45 pounds 8/6/3 lunges with 20lbs each hand 10/10/10/10 push ups 10/10/10/10 sit ups 20/20/20/20 Evening: Deadlift 45pounds/110lbs/154lbs/198lbs/242lbs 10/8/5/3/1 overhead press 45pounds/110lbs/110bs 10/8/8 Inverted rows 10/10/10/10 hanging knee raises 10/8/6 benchpress 45lbs/110lbs/154lbs/154lbs 10/10/8/6 Goal 1: Deadlift double my weight Goal 2: 10 pull ups with 22pounds Goal 3: 10-13bodyfat% Life Goal: Start a postcard and calendar business in my area. Today I'm taking a break so tomorrow ill come back with an update

Hey everybody, This is my 6th time participating in the Nerd Fitness challenges. I have managed to level up my life in many ways through this process, and plan to continue during this challenge. Here is a link to my previous challenge http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/22527-kyliewyotie-regains-his-motivation/ In my last challenge I overcame an almost complete lack of motivation. I was very pleased with the results. I want to keep on pushing myself with increasingly difficult exercise, and to improve my eating habits even more. Stage 1: Eat right, 80% 85% of the time, every time. "Right" counts as low calorie or paleo. I'm not setting specific limitations because I know what's good and bad; for example grubbing out on 20 slices of bacon and 5 eggs isn't good, despite being paleo. Measuring success: 3 meals a day for 6 weeks is 126 meals total. 15% of those will be the "cheat" meals (19 total), or as I called them last challenge, "no-go's". All other meals that are good are "go's". For this challenge I will have 19 "no go's" +3 CHA Last challenge I completed this goal using 24 (just under 80%) I want to continue this method put improve a little, so 5 more % sounds good. Stage 2: Workout 3 times a week (strength training.) Last challenge I wanted to ingrain the habit of working out 3 times a week. It really worked, so this time I am making it a stipulation that I will strength train 3 times a week. It can be my body weight routine, or some of my new fangled weight training. +5 STR, Stage 3: Run! First I HATE running. Or at least I always used to. I have been doing alot (still using it, shout out to motivation team ALOT) of walking. During my walking I have felt a desire to job a bit. I will make it a goal to run once a week. I will be starting small. I am not setting a length goal, or a time frame. I just want to do it. Let's see how it goes. Its hard to catch the road runner when I refuse to run. Hopefully I trade the magnet in and start beating up my shoes. +4 STA Stage 4: Monies I have begun reading "I will teach you to be rich" and I really am liking it. I have never really thought about investing, or really using my money to work for me. My extent of my money management in the past has been just knowing I have enough to pay my bills. For this goal I want to finish the book, and follow through with the 6 week program that is shown inside. +3 Wis As always I am looking forward to seeing how everyone else does this challenge.

So - I've learned chronic cardio does not work for me. I've been lifting all winter and seeing great results, but now that the weather is getting a little nicer, I want to start running again. A typical run for me is 3 miles/30 minutes. Any advice for a weekly schedule/balance for cardio vs strength? I also enjoy taking HIIT classes, which I was doing up to 4x per week over the winter, but I'd probably cut back on to replace with cardio, since the weights aren't very heavy. My thought is 2 days/week of cardio, 2 days/week of heavy lifting, and 2 days/week of HIIT (lighter weights with some cardio tossed in too). Does this sound reasonable? And if not, what do you suggest and why?

Hi, everybody. I would appreciate some feedback. I started lifting weights seriously a little more than four months ago, at the start of November of 2012. Before that I was a runner and triathlete, relatively tall (6'0") and definitely skinny (153lb). After a long series of running-related injuries, I decided to make a change, and work on getting bigger and stronger. (Hence my user name, which I admit is aspirational.) In November, I started the StrongLifts program. I kept at that consistently until February, when the 5x5 routine started taking too long. So I switched to a 3x5 routine, which I still thought of as StrongLifts but I now see, now that I have read the book, is actually the Starting Strength Routine. During the past four and a half months, I have been very consistent about my workouts. I have worked out three times a week except for one week, when I missed two workouts because I was sick. Recovery has bit more of a challenge -- I have two young kids and a stressful job, so I often don't get enough sleep, and don't manage my stress as well as I could. When I started StrongLifts in November, my weight was 166lb. Since then, it has increased to 186lb. That has required me to eat A LOT more than I used to. I have no idea what my lifting maxes were last November, because with StrongLifts you start with an empty bar for the lifts. But I have increased my lifts to: Squats - 3x5 @ 140#. I actually increased to 160#, but my form suffered -- I was not going below parallel. And I strained my piriformis. (My advice: Don't do that. It really hurts.) So I have backed off a bit. Bench - 3x5 @ 125#. OHP - 3x5 @ 80#. Deadlift - 1x5 @ 175#. So here is my question -- am I making a reasonable amount of progress? As I mentioned, I read Starting Strength, and he makes it sound like after four and a half months of serious training, I should have gained 50lb and increased my squat to 200lb. (I made up those numbers, but the principal is accurate.) Rippetoe and Mehdi (the guy behind StrongLifts) also make it sound like I should be able to increase my squats by 5lb every single workout. But over the last few weeks, that has become more difficult. If I increase by 5lb every workout, I can make it work for a couple of weeks, but my form suffers, and eventually I have to deload a bit. I don't personally know any other serious lifters (meaning people who do the compound lifts and train for strength), so I don't have any real-life point of comparison for my progress. But based on the facts that I have outlined here, does it sound like I have made a reasonable amount of progress, or do the numbers suggest that I need to change something? I appreciate any suggestions.

Hi everyone, Ive been reading lots of articles from nerd fitness and decided to sign up since i have a bunch of questions that i hoped Steve would be able to answer but ill settle for the next best thing. Before i ask my questions ill give everyone some of my details, I'm 23 82kgs and 5"10. My Goals are to burn fat and put on muscle (everyones goal I'm guessing) Ive been training past couple months but just this week after reading so much about pale and strength training I've decided to give it a go! My workout which is from nerd fitness is : Monday: Squats, benchpress, wide grip pull ups, planks Wednesday: deadliest, overhead press, inverted rows, hanging knee raises. Friday: weighted lunges, weighted dips, weighted chin ups, reverse crunches Tues - thursday ill do the konami code workout. I also do kick boxing on thursday and a light weight interval circuit Monday or Tuesday. I wanna put on muscle so I'm not sure if i should cut the cardio down a bit? I don't want to lose too much fitness in what I'm used to do. Im on pretty much full paleo with no grains, carbs, pasta, processed, sugars etc... I do use coconut oil for my cooking and I've been having a lot of red meat lately (not sure if thats a good idea) Am i on the right track?

I have been only working with barbell training for five or six weeks now and I am still considering myself a novice. I've got the Barbell Battallion ebook from this site, I've watched the videos for doing the lifts properly, but I think the thing that has helped me out the most is Ripptoe's Starting Strength book that is highly recommended by Steve. I was working my deadlifts yesterday next to another young lifter who was dropping his weights hard for his deadlifts. One of the gym trainers came in and asked him to please stop dropping his weights. He then watched me do my deadlifts to make sure I wasn't dropping them and quickly complemented me on my technique, back position, bar position and everything. He even went so far as to tell the other young lifters in the room to watch how I did it and they would be able to do it correctly themselves. This made me feel really confident about what I was doing and gave me that extra boost to keep at it and keep improving.

After completing my first challenge, and finally successfully running a distance of 5k, I'm ready to step up my running training to the next level. Here are my goals for my second challenge. Goal #1: Run a Half-Marathon Starting Point: Ran 5-miles on 2/22 (~47:30 at an easy pace) How to get to 13.1 Do all of the following once a week: 1. Intervals - I love them! 2. Middle-distance runs 3 - 6 miles at a quick pace (this will be my weak point) 3. Long runs - 6 - 12 miles at an easy pace My stretch goal will be 1:37:36 (I want to beat GreenMatt's time on the Scout's Leaderboard) A sub-goal is to run a 5k in less than 20 minutes. GreenMatt is on the board at 19:44, so I'll try and beat that. Attribute Points: 5 STA Goal #2: Cross-Train Twice a Week Starting point: Occasionally use a stationary bike What kind of cross-training I'll be doing I'll be sticking to the stationary bike, and plan to do intervals of 30 seconds of sprinting and 4 minutes of easy pedaling 4x-7x This is also used to build stamina for the half-marathon goal Attribute Points: 3 STA Goal #3: Power-Lift Twice a Week Starting point: No experience with barbells Starting Strength Just started reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, and it comes highly recommended by my brother as a great program for building functional strength. I'll do two workouts per week, likely on the same day as my cross-training. Attribute Points: 3 STR Goal #4: Write 15 Finance Articles a Week Starting point: I've written about 75 articles for the Motley Fool since the beginning of November. My work ethic has fallen off a cliff in the last couple months. When I first started, I was writing 3 articles per day. They recently gave me a raise, so now I have no excuse not to write as much as possible. I can earn a really great living writing 15 articles a week, setting my own schedule, and working from home, a coffee shop, a friends house, a foreign country, or anywhere! It's a really great opportunity, and I've been wasting it. Not any longer! I plan to write 15 articles per week, and will appreciate an accountability partner on this to make sure I get my work done. (Preferably someone with an interest in finance, who would actually want to read my articles.) So I turn to you, NF community, to make me do my work. Attribute Points: Not sure yet, please help me decide! I'll be posting a list of toys I plan to buy myself for keeping up with my goals soon.

I started lifting weights again the other day. I have been benching the same amount for 2 weeks now, and instead of it getting easier (which I expected) it seems to be getting harder? Thoughts? Eiric S

Hi! I'm a 25-year-old newlywed mechanical engineer in Central PA. I started weight training back in September, and quickly became obsessed. I found Paleo in December, fell in love, and completed a Whole30 in January (www.whole9life.com). I'm not ready to do another Whole30 just yet, but I found nerdfitness about a month ago and wanted to sign up for the forums so I could join the next challenge My life is like one long episode of Big Bang Theory, although I wish it was a little more like Firefly or Battlestar Galactica. I married my very own Sheldon Cooper last year, but I wish I looked a little more like Penny and a little less like Amy (even if there's no denying I'll always act like her). When I'm not at the gym, I'm usually in the kitchen cooking up some paleo meals, knitting, redesigning my house, or being obsessed with watching an entire TV series (last month it was Battlestar Galactica, this month it's Doctor Who). February 2013 stats: 5'4" 157lbs 30% body fat (actually from 1/17) Stomach: 33.25" Waist 31.25" Bicep: 12.5" Thigh: 24" Chest: 34" Hips: 39" (baby got back, lol) Pants Size: 8 Dead Lift: 135 lbs Squat: 155 lbs Pull Ups: 80 lbs assistance Dips: 60 lbs assistance.

Woop woop! I've signed up for my first adventure race! The Dirty Dash - http://www.thedirtydash.com/race.i?id=42&t=Oregon - and I am SO excited! My 27 weeks leading up to the race will be all about training to have a blast getting dirty! But WHY? you might ask.... Because I want to WIN a few Mountain Trail Competition titles (horse events) and the physical improvements I'll gain by training to get dirty will go a long way to helping me be competitve! Win Win! For the first week of the year I've been focused on getting my shite together.... just in time to jump into this challenge on Monday! Goal 1 - Yoga 3x / week. I really need to loosen up - especially shoulders - if I have any hope of getting strong enough to pull myself up and over walls or swing wildly across the monkey bars. Goal 2 - Bodyweight work out 2x / week. Focus on arm strength (again for swinging, climbing, diving, etc...) and core strength. Goal 3 - Walk / jog daily. I'm not putting a time or distance setting on this challenge goal for a variety of reasons including: It's dark and cold and icy at this time of year so that leaves me little blocks of time at lunch / breaks to go out and get a little exercise during the days. My focus will be to just get out and move some each day. By the time this challenge is up I'm going to need to start putting in significant effort in this area as the course is 4+ miles of muddy fun. But, at that time I'll also have more daylight and ability! Level Up Goal - Pay off at least 25% of our one remaining non-mortgage debt! I encourage you to chime in, throw some mud pies at me, and help keep me focused on the goal!

Hello all! New member to the website, nice to meet ya! I suppose introductions are in order, my name's Michael. I'm 20 years old and have been "working out" for a good portion of my life. Playing sports, occasionally going to the gym or on a run. My diet never was never really...that healthy. I tried to eat healthier but it never really stuck with me, something that I'm hoping to change through being a part of a community like the Nerd Fitness Rebellion. I work (in a bowling alley), so I'm surrounded by junk food/sodas all the time, and it makes it hard to resist the sugary/fatty temptations. (especially because sodas are free..) I weigh around 200 pounds, and I wouldn't really have a problem with that due to my height (6'2''), but a good majority of my weight is fat. Last time I measured in at about 18% body fat, a shocking revelation when the last time I checked I was closer to 10%. My goals: I'm looking to go further and beyond, and get down to ~7% body fat. I want to feel and look good at the same time, as well as be as strong as can be. I want to begin hardcore strength training, as well as try and go full paleo throughout the course of the year.(The latter will be difficult, I'm unfortunately a pretty picky eater :/) I also want to add parkour training to my workouts, added with strength training. I just read an article on the main page about transitioning from machines to free weights, and it mentioned starting off with Bodyweight exercises BEFORE moving on to the free weights, and then finally mixing the two together. It seems like a great idea, and I would love to put the body weigh exercises into my routine(they almost mirror the parkour training that is also found on the website) So all in all my goals for this are: Get to 7% body fatGo paleo!Like what I see in the mirrorBE STRONGAnd to get started with parkourThanks a lot for the read and I'm glad to be here.

So I've been doing my SuperLifts 5x5 for about 5 months now. I'm really starting to see some serious progress, but as I work harder, I'm finding my body is starting to get some aches and pains (as one would expect as you push your body harder and harder). One thing that is starting to get me a little concerned is that my left achilles is beginning to get really sore on a frequent basis, and it doesn't seem to go away (I haven't really taken more then a 4 day rest in awhile so that could be part of it), but just curious if other people have sore achilles and if so, if anyone has any tips or if there is something that might be able to help. I should note, that once I start working out, it feels fine (like once it gets warmed up), just after sitting for a long period of time or right away in the morning, it feels a little tender.

I just started weight lifting a little while ago with a buddy at work. He and I both prefer multiple muscle group exercises like deadlifts and squats (he's teaching me dumb-bell snatches this week too). Deadlifts and squats are both pretty intense and there is no safe way (nor is it probably ever advisable?) to do both on the same day. But even during the week, should I be doing deadlifts on M, squats on W, and something else on F? Does it matter? Any other advice on structuring a weight lifting routine? I know some people will alternate push/pull exercises, others will alternate different muscle groups. I did some strength training during college a couple years ago, but it was mostly bench press and isolated muscle groups; whereas now I'm trying to focus on exercises that target a much larger group of muscles when I started doing a body-weight circuit over the summer. For the time being, I'm focusing on general athleticism and weight loss (I lost a few inches on the waist, but I think I got the weight back in muscle). Maybe eventually I'll work on bulking up but until I'm comfortable enough that I have proper form while doing these exercises I don't want to do a ton* of weight. *like I could ever lift a ton