Broba Fett crawls out of the Sarlacc.

[Broba Fett]

 

Cool knife. Looking forward to seeing your future blacksmithing projects.

Thanks. I think next one is going to be a little boring but more appropriate for my experience level: I'm gonna make a hat rack so we don't have 17 hats cluttering up our closet. Just some simple curled hooks in some nice stained wood.

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[Broba Fett]

My main reference is Elliot Coleman's book The New Organic Gardener from which I'm scaling down and tweaking his methods. He does everything by hand on a two acre vegetable farm and the biggest bed size he recommends is 48" with 12" between. Then anywhere from 2-6 rows of plants depending on the needs of the plant.

*puts it on goodreads list*

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[Broba Fett]

Well I'm sold on the gym. Man is an excellent salesman and I appreciate that coming from sales myself.

So they do what I'd call more of a heavy lifting crossfit workout during the week, abs/cardio Saturday and Sunday is a free day where they bust out the strongman equipment.

Being our first night we did a tamed down routine of what most of then did, to give then a baseline.

For example, tonight was deadlift night and this is what they did followed by what we did:

Them: Hanging abs medley of toes to bar, knees to elbows, and just straight leg lifts. 30butterfly situps.

Us: 15 butterfly situps followed by 25 bodyweight squats while the coach assessed our ankle mobility and overall form. (We both did very well on both movements)

Them: Deadlifts starting at 50% of 1RM and working up to a new 1RM attempt.

Us: Quick lecture on deadlift form (which was nice since I had my feet too far apart and was not starting with the bar back against my shins.) followed by 3rep sets to work up to our 3RM. They started me at 95 to make sure I form was right and then I worked up to 335x3 with no issues before they cut us off for time. I know I can go much heavier, especially with the corrections to my form. This pleased me greatly.

Girlfriend pulled 230x3, up from 205x2 last week. I was very proud.

After that was conditioning. They did 90 flutter kicks, 60 bodyweight squats, 30 burpees, ran 800m, and then did it all over again.

We did half of everything and walked the 800m. I had no problem with the flutter kicks. Squats though, when combined with the 25 we did before and the DOMS from Saturdays squat night caused some knee pain after about 20-25. They told us at the beginning that we were to inform them of any pain so they pulled me from the rest of the squats and burpees and I just did the walk and second set of kicks. Girlfriend did all of it. She's a badass.

I think this is what I need. Girlfriend and I are planning on going every Monday night and then I'll be going weds morning and she will go Friday nights. Then we will do Sundays as often as we can. I can't wait to pick up some stones and deadlift a car. Their implement array is excellent.

I'm gonna go get some serious sleep after that. Busy day today kept me from checking anyone's threads so I hope you're all doing well.

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[Granny Nogg]

Sounds like you're going to have some serious fun at that gym! !

....*sent from my tiny particle accelerator*....

[WorldSparrow]

Good to hear the gym is working out! 

[Jord]

 

Got the bed built. It ain't pretty but I think it'll hold dirt:

 

 

It doesn't have to be pretty!  In the words of my other half when I was telling our friend this weekend how I was showing him various versions of raised beds on Pinterest, "It's a square box, Julia."

[RedStone]

 

I can't wait to pick up some stones and deadlift a car.

 

 

Yup. 

 

Congrats on finding your place!! Looking forward to hearing all about it!!  

[Broba Fett]

Day 2 at the gym.  Kicked my butt again.

 

I had to get up at 5am for the 6am class today.  Looks like that's how it's gonna work:  Gf and I will go together monday nights, I'll go 6am weds, she'll go friday nights, and we'll try to make as many Sunday Funday sessions as we can.

 

Warm up was a couple laps around the gym followed by 10 hand release (I think they called them that, you have to lift your hands off the ground when you get to the bottom) pushups.  I did all 10!  This may not seem like a big deal but I've maybe done one or two legit on-your-toes pushups a couple times in my life.  Having so much weight to push definitely makes it hard.  So that got me in a good mood to start the workout.

 

Everyone was focused on improving bench maxs today so coach watched me do a few sets and critiqued my form.  Just like with deadlift, he made a few small adjustments and it felt like a whole new movement/ I felt very strong.

 

We got up to 170x3 and he cut me off there.  Said I have plenty of strength to go beyond that but need to work on my bar path, something I'd given no thought to before today.  Says we can "get stronger" just by getting that bar path set in our brains.

 

After that we did barbell curls and triceps extensions in a sort of superset fashion and then the conditioning.  Oh the conditioning. 

 

Burpees for days.  I'm still not doing them properly so she had me do a bastardized version for half the time everyone else did.

 

Finished conditioning with a circut that included kettlebell swings, situps, wall balls, and those hand release pushups.  The idea was to do 30 reps of each without rest and then start all over, seeing how far you could get.  I got through the kettlebell swings and situps no problem but the wall balls killed me.  Legs are dead from squatting saturday and monday so it was rough.  Got through 25 reps on wall balls by the end of the allotted time. 

 

Much smaller group in the morning and, once again, very supportive of me and each other.  Good folks.

 

Feeling very worn down today.  Probably due to the intensity of workouts this week combined with getting up early today. 

 

Also found out today I have annual reviews to write by next week and get to spend a quarter of my day in a focus group with marketing. So I apologize in advance if I'm a bit absent from the forums other than checking in.  I hope you all are doing well!

[Broba Fett]

Week over week I was over 431 again.  So back to no weight loss since restarting.  Got really upset for a bit and then resolved to actually do something about it.

 

Measured my BF (44.8%) via taping several body parts.  Took screenshots of measurements.  Now if I fail to move on the scale I can hopefully find some results elsewhere to keep me motivated.

 

Also used my newfound BF to figure out some macros.  Shooting for 2527 calories/day with about 250g protein and 100 g of carbs.  Going well today.  Like I said last week, can't expect results if I'm not tracking and putting in an effort on what I eat.  So we will see how that goes.

 

In good challenge news, sprouts!

 

 

 

 

Idk if you can tell but that entire closest row is completely pushing up and holding a bunch of heavy earth just a few days after we planted them.  I find it absolutely amazing. 

 

I have no technical knowledge beyond this point (I don't even know what is sprouting and what isn't) as my girlfriend has the green thumb. However, I'll continue posting updates on it since the garden is our big life focus this year in our journey to be more self-sufficient.

 

 

[laughingwarlock]

yo dude you kickin butt

[Jord]

I might be totally crazy, and I am a woman so dieting is different. But I was once 305 lbs (in 2003), now I weight 180, so I have at least a little bit of experience with weight loss at big numbers. And I am concerned that while 2500 will cause you to definitely lose weight if you are weighing 430, that you are going to feel like you are starving and then fall off the wagon. 

 

What were you eating (calories) before you re-did your macros? And are you tracking what you eat?

 

Also, I'm just a human and not any kind of nutrition expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt. 

[Broba Fett]

I am concerned that while 2500 will cause you to definitely lose weight if you are weighing 430, that you are going to feel like you are starving and then fall off the wagon. 

 

What were you eating (calories) before you re-did your macros? And are you tracking what you eat?

 

Also, I'm just a human and not any kind of nutrition expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt. 

That's a very good point. My TDEE came out to a little over 3000 so I'm shooting for about a pound per week.

Wasn't tracking before, I think that was part of the issue. Was focusing on eating regular portions but because I wasn't measuring or censoring the kind of food I was eating I think I was probably still going over TDEE.

Idk what to do honestly. Girlfriend thinks I should just keep hitting the gym but it helps me a lot to have tangible results and with the scale going up its killing me.

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[Jord]

My advice, again, this is only advice. Is that if you were not tracking before, that you eat the most amount of calories you think you can get away with while tracking your calories and see if you lose weight before cutting back dramatically. You may find that when you actually know what you are eating, you can eat more calories than you think. 

 

I would be wary of any calculator that tells you that your TDEE is 3000 at your weight. I think I was losing weight when I was 305 and eating 2500 calories. Obviously everyone has different levels of metabolism and muscle mass. 

 

I just know what is like to be heavy and want the best for you and long term success! My older brother is going through a similar process as I did and it sounds like you are. And so I am giving you the same advice I would give as if you were my own brother. 

[Broba Fett]

I appreciate your willingness to give me honest advice. That's probably a good idea. Truthfully I probably just need to track faithfully daily like Brogo has and really find that sweet spot.

The problem is I want changes now! . I need to calm my inner Barruka Salt and be patient I suppose.

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[Broba Fett]

 

yo dude you kickin butt

Thanks!  Glad to have new people checking in.

 

Super sore today.  Abs and lats.  I think those wall-balls and burpees really tore up my back.  I love it.

 

Girlfriend is going to the gym on her own tonight and then we are both gonna try to go Sunday when they bust out the strongman implements!

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Smart decision to take measurements.  The scale is a jerk.

[Broba Fett]

 

Smart decision to take measurements.  The scale is a jerk.

I think this is the biggest key.  If the scale doesn't move but I can see my BF % dropped or my waist got a 1/4" smaller I don't get nearly as discouraged.

 

Diet was good yesterday.  Girlfriend's daughter (hereafter M, because lazy) has a tradition of getting a donut from a local shop about a half mile away before school on Fridays.  Decided to walk down with her yesterday morning rather than stop on the way to school, so I got a good mile in. 

 

Regarding the diet thing, I'm going to talk to Coach when I go in tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions.  Hoping for something other than "Sure, let me sign you up for a nutritional counseling session, only $XXX.99!"  I don't expect it though, he is a pretty cool guy and seems to genuinely care about his clients. 

 

Girlfriend showed up to an evening class last night and no one else did.  So she got a 90 minute one-on-one with Coach and he kicked her ass!  I was pretty jealous. 

 

Super excited for tomorrow. Hoping I can at least do some of the events they mess around with on sundays.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Just caught up for a reciprocal follow. That gym sounds pretty awesome.

[Broba Fett]

 

Just caught up for a reciprocal follow. That gym sounds pretty awesome.

 

Glad to have you along!  It is excellent so far.  Going to be expensive but it seems like just want I need/want.

 

The best part by far has been how supportive everyone is of everyone else.  I'm in the place for less than 20 minutes and people I've never met are cheering me on as I'm working on my deadlift.  I'm excited to get more involved.

[WorldSparrow]

That's great to have your gym people be so helpful. One of the worst parts of going to a gym is being afraid people are judging you! 

[Broba Fett]

That's great to have your gym people be so helpful. One of the worst parts of going to a gym is being afraid people are judging you! 

It is phenomenal. Just got out of the strongman session. I'm 100% hooked if I wasn't before. Full report soon.

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[Broba Fett]

Alright so yesterday was good. Friends of ours had a birthday party so there was some drinking and much rejoicing.

Hungover this morning, we gave the dogs a bath and relaxed/took a nap until open gym started.

We got there and there were several guys training for a local event this Saturday. After we did 15 mins of Deck of Death as a warmup, I did all the strongman things.

They just got in a truck pull simulator so we started with that. It's a little device that locks into the power rack and has a rope running through it with clips on both ends. You can adjust the resistance put on the rope as it slides through the device from none at all until it gets to simulating the big trucks (fire/semi/etc) they have you pull in events. The guys who are competing got it up to where they felt it will be similar to Saturday and then Coach suggested I give it a shot. It wasnt perfect but I got it done just as well as most of the guys training to compete. I felt pretty damn good. [emoji16]

Coach suggested at this time that I sign up to compete Saturday. I thought he was kidding but he was totally serious. I ended up deciding not to after trying the other events but that made me feel even better.

Next was Conan's Wheel. I was able to do this well but I capped out at one full rotation of 400lbs. The competitors were going for max rotations at about 500:

(This is what they finished with. I got it up and went about 5ft and decided 400 was a good enough start and I have plenty of time to get up there.)

They spent most of the rest of the day on that but I asked one of the other guys to show me Atlas Stones. After watching a badass woman do a 160lb one, he said I should start there. My form was awful, I basically just muscled it up without it really touching my body set it gently on the bar. Tried again and did better "lapping" it and rolling it up and then kind of threw it over the bar. [emoji15] The guy showing me suggested we go a bit heavier so we grabbed 260. I couldn't a good grip on it or else I know I could have gotten it up over the bar. He gave me a list of things to buy so that we could put "tacky" on my forearms next time and that should help a lot.

All in all an awesome day. I've never had a time in my life where I felt really athletic before today. Can't wait to see what I'm really capable of.

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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Way to Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of the women!

[WorldSparrow]

Just think about how good you will be by the time the next competition roles around - you will definitely be ready! 

[Stronkey Kong]

Hafthor eat your heart out.