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Hi All So ive abandoned my previous battle log coz I thought its time to get serious and therefore I need a new log... So lets start with why my battle log has this strange name.... while researching stronglifts I came across the story of Milo of Croton and thought that his story was an awesome guideline for what im wanting to achieve, I mean.... "His daily diet consisted of 20lb meat, 20lb bread and 18 pints of wine" awwwweeesssoooommmme I wish I could eat like that lol... but I will eventually be doing this full paleo ( I say eventually because I am currently not in control of meals but that will change during the 12 weeks) and the main reason im basing this on him... "He started lifting and carrying a new born calf and repeating the feat daily as it grew to maturity, thus increasing his strength every day by small increments" oh but of course there is the major difference of me being a girl..... so if im gona look like a greek goddess i wana look like this and im hoping I wont be eaten alive by wolves So yeah im really focusing on getting strong and turning this fat booty into a nice round muscular booty My 12 week strong lift challenge started on the 2nd March and lets see how this goes...

So, last challenge, I got started late because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and went on vacation with my parents for a week and then didn't finish because of a short period of no internet and the fitness room at my new university not having barbell plates for a week and then stressing out about stupid assignments, so I'm trying this again. Main Quest (nerdy phrasing): Achieve my next form (the first one where people can comment on how much more in shape I am so that I can reply "This isn't even my final form.") Getting Focused Part 2 again Objective 1: Stick to my diet, and try to get 220g of protein a dayObjective 2: Continue lifting 3 times per week (SL 5x5)Objective 3: Get an average of 7 hours or more of sleep each nightLife Side Quest: Work on time management I'm hoping this helps me not get as stressed out and helps me do well in my classes while still having time to relax and do other things. I'm thinking pomodoro might work well for this purpose. My obstacle with it is that most things I would want to do take more than 5 minutes (30 minutes can seem quite short as well), so it can feel like just more wasted time instead of a break, so I need to work on how to make the 5 minutes seem worthwhile and refreshing.

Hi everyone, I have been playing in the gym for a while, lost the "easy" weight and have just started to get serious about lifting. I have lost about 60LBS in the last 18 months and started StrongLifts about a month ago. I did what it suggested and started fairly light and concentrated on form - I flew through the first 3 weeks building confidence and form. My form is coming along okay, but this morning I reached the point on my squat and overhead press where I could not get the last few reps with good form, in fact I was not sure I was going to finish out without a long break. According to the plan I will not increase the weight on those two exercises until I can complete them with good form, so that is what I will do. My question is this... is it normal to stall out this quick in the program and have to start repeating weights? If so, do most people get moving again pretty quick, or could it take a while to start to move these numbers up regularly again? If it is not normal, what is usually the issue (not enough food, bad form, all of the above). I realize this is a loaded question because gains/stalls are different for everyone, but I wanted to see what the community thought overall about this topic to see if I was very far off base. My stats are: 5'11" 180 (Chubby Hubby) 42 Years Old Squat 155 LBS (5x5) Bench 120 LBS (5x5) Overhead Press 85 LBS (5x5) DeadLift 155 LBS (5x5) BarbellRow 125 LBS (5x5) Thanks in advance for your comments.

First challenge as a member of the Warrior Guild, having just completed the level 1 Rebel challenge I'm looking to maintain and continue to build some momentum towards completing my Main Quest (being in the best shape of my life by my 35th birthday – 25 June 2015). In the past, when I've abandoned fitness, it's usually been because working out changed from being fun to a chore. So, in the spirit of keeping things fun, I've devised a point based game for me to complete this challenge and “level up.†My reward for successfully leveling up? Increasing my badassity quotient. My penalty for failing to level up? I will shave my beloved beard. And what is a Warrior without a badass beard? So those are the stakes. Here's a rundown of the basic game rules I'll be following: Total points needed to Level Up: 300 Ways in which I gain points in this challenge: -Complete a StrongLifts weight session, +10 pts -Complete a dedicated conditioning session, +10 pts -Walk, +1 pt per mile -Bike, +1 pt per mile -Hike, +2 pts per mile -Pushups: +25 pts per 1,000 pushups completed during the challenge. My goal is 4,000 for the challenge, which would require me to average almost 100 every day. If I get all 4,000 pushups I will award myself an additional 50 bonus points (in addition to the 100 pts I would already have earned from the 4 – 1,000 pushups completed) -Yoga class, +25 pts (I've never done yoga. It's been something I've wanted to try for a long time, so if I motivate myself and actually take a class, I'll award myself a healthy bonus for kicking ass and getting out of my comfort zone). -Successfully reach 250lbsx5x5 barbell squat, +25 pts -Successfully reach 225lbsx5x5 bench press, +25 pts -Successfully reach 315x1x5 deadlift, +25 pts On this quest, I may encounter enemies who drain points thusly: -Any eating of the “Forbidden Foods†will deduct 50 points. My Forbidden Foods for this challenge are: pizza, chips (any kind: potato, tortilla, etc), hot dogs, and bread. -If I drink alcohol more than 2x per week during this challenge, I lose 50 pts for each additional day So that's it. Those are the parameters of this challenge. To be successful, I need to hit my StrongLifts sessions 3x a week for 6 weeks (180 points), and supplement this with conditioning sessions, low impact walking and biking, and working towards my pushup “vanity†goal of 4k pushups in 6 weeks. As long as I remember that I can't out-train a bad diet (avoid Forbidden Foods and moderate my drinking), I should be able to reach 300 points and retain my beard, and move onto the next challenge in my Quest to become one BAMF by age 35.

I've named this challenge after "Phenomenal Woman" By Dr. Maya Angelou, may she rest in peace. If you don't know it, you should read it. This is in comic form if you're more of a visual person. Main goal: For this challenge I want to get down to 155lbs and my ultimate goal at the moment is 150lbs, which means 12lbs in 6 weeks. I've been loosing about 2lbs a week, so as long as I can keep it up, I should get there with some dedication. Goals: 1. Keep lifting 3x a week with SL5x5, I want to keep making progress on my lifts as well as loose weight. 2. Stick to 1,300 calories a day. I usually let myself have a few beers or something every few weeks with friends, but I want to stay really strict for this challenge. 3. Drink at least 3 water bottles full a day. I'm usually really good about water, but for the last few weeks I've been forgetting and I can see the difference. Life quest: This might be odd, but I really need a project. I'm bored to tears waiting for school to start, and without something to work on I just watch Netflix all day. My mom needs a dining room table set sanded and painted so I'll probably do that. I really like working with furniture and building things. Plus it's nice outside, so working outside should be fun. Motivation: This challenge is pretty simple, but it means a lot to me. This is the most in shape I've been in my whole life, and I'm not even at my goals yet. I'm so excited to see what else I'm capable of and what I look like in shape. That's pretty much my motivation. Also, 3 weeks into this challenge is Seattle Pride and I've always wanted to look awesome for pride. I'm hoping that with more specific but doable goals I can be more successful this challenge.

Hello, So, 1 week ago during squats at 170lbs, poor form got the best of me and I tweaked my lower back. I try to low bar squat, caught myself leaning too far forward and overcompensated. I've tweaked my back about 9mo ago when putting one of my kids to bed and had to do some PT. It still feels a little tight at times but I'm itching to get back in the gym. I've rested and had to use lots of ibuprofen and even some muscle relaxers right after I injured it. I've been doing SL for almost 4mo and have just started to see my progressions in squat and OHP level off a bit. I'm curious if I should I go back to the weight I was working at before I took the week off or if should I deload and work my way back up again. Thanks for any input, Micklepickle

Fitness Goals -Loose fat and gain muscle Exercise Preference -Olympic lifts Current Physical Stats -Female -22 years old -5'4" -170lbs Previous Training History -Starting in January I was doing some variant of Couch to 5K anywhere from 3-7 days a week and eating a strict 1,200 calories a day. I have since fixed this upon discovering NF and really doing the research on what is healthy. Current Training -SL 5x5 -About 4 weeks so far -Current working weights: Squat 70lbsBench 80lbsBarbell row 70lbsOHP 45lbsDeadlift 80lbsCurrent Diet -Paleo, I do weigh just everything and eat nuts or nut butter less than once a week if that -About 1,700 calories -Macros: Fat: 50gCarbs: 178gProtein: 156gCurrent Resources/Limitations -Gym Access and no limitations Questions I started at 200lbs in January on the aforementioned "program." Once I hit 170lbs I switched to Paleo, upped my calories to 1,784 (my BMR is about 1,500), and started working on weightlifting, as I really loathe running. It's been about 2 months since I hit 170lbs and I have yet to loose another pound. After such a large loss this has been very disheartening, but I have resisted the urge to return to 1,200 calories. I have a few questions based on all of this, the first is have I just trashed my metabolism so much at this point that loosing has become more difficult, or is it more because I'm trying to do too much at once? I really love weightlifting, but if I had to pick between getting stronger and fat loss I'd pick fat loss at the moment, I'm still about 20-30lbs overweight. Is there a way to continue lifting while making my main focus fat loss? How? As I'm eating at a deficit and working out 4-5 times a week and not loosing I'm more confused than anything. Actually, I've been keeping track of my measurements and BF% and it seems like I'm actually gaining inches and fat. My lifts are starting to get hard, in fact today I fell short on my bench press. But I'm afraid that if I eat at maintenance or even a slight surplus that I'll just have fat gain considering that I'm maintaining at 1,700 right now. Help! I'm so confused!