Hi!

[Shoshie]

I've been leafing through the Nerd Fitness blog for a few weeks and lurking about the forum for a bit less time. A couple months ago I decided that I was kind of tired with being really out of shape and weak, and I wanted to get fast and strong. I guess I wasn't TOO bad off, because I was doing yoga fairly regularly and I walk a lot (barefoot! or in vibrams when it's cold and wet out).

Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle in November while I was dancing (jumped, spun, and landed on the top of my foot) and was unable to walk for more than a block or so. Some of my friends had also started doing Crossfit, so I was researching that from my sad, disabled state. Eventually I decided it wasn't for me (cost of joining a box, transit time to get to a box, limited space for my own set up in my tiny city apartment). I started following Bodyrock.tv, mixing up some of their older workouts with newer ones. I started getting a bit tired of doing that every day and wanting to get stronger, faster, so I *just* started following Stronglifts, but with 2 days/week rather than three. I found it a bit scary to venture into the free weight room, but I went at 6 in the morning when people would be too tired to make fun of me (it made sense in my head). I managed to do the 5x5 with the bar, so go me! And I didn't fall over once while I was squatting, which is sweet, since I have poor balance to begin with, and having a weak ankle doesn't help matters AT ALL. Though yoga is helping a bit with balance, especially on my injured foot. I'm also (inconsistently) doing push up and pull up progressions because 2 of my 2012 goals are to do 1 pull and 10 honest-to-goodness chest-to-ground push ups. I'm definitely getting stronger and it's awesome. April will be 6 months after my injury, and I'm hoping to start running. I want to train for the Warrior Dash, which looks like pretty much the best thing ever.

Oh, and I'm also a big fat fatty, but weight-loss dieting honestly annoys me after being on tons of them since I was 12. I'm basically in love with the Health At Every Size approach. At the end of the day, I'd rather be awesome than thin (not that the two are mutual exclusive, but if I have to put my efforts into one or the other, I choose awesome). These days, I'm just trying to eat nutritious foods and be active, though ice cream is my nemesis. But I've found that home made frozen yogurt is just as fantastic, if not more so.

Gah, this is getting long, but I'm also a HUGE NERD. I'm in grad school for my chemistry PhD and starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I also love love love all things Joss Whedon, science fiction, and horror. I'm in the midst of a 6 year love affair with urban fantasy. I'm also married to an amazing fellow nerd who got me the the complete Sandman for our first anniversary last year and a whole bunch of science fiction/fantasy short story anthologies for our second. He also protects me when we watch too many episodes of X-Files or Supernatural before bed. Yeah, he's great.

I also have pink hair and love parentheticals.

[bigm141414]

Hey! Welcome to the Rebellion. So when do we get to start calling you Dr. Shoshie?

You've got a good attitude starting out. I gave up trying to lose weight and wanted to get stronger and faster. I figured if I was gonna be big I wanted to move my mass around as best as possible. What actually ended up happening was I lost my mass without even thinking about it

Poke around the forums a little more. Let us know if you need help with anything. We're mostly friendly creatures (as long as I have my morning coffee I'm good). Don't be afraid to ask questions. We're all in this together

[Sco]

Welcome, Soshie! I definitely agree that "awesome" is the best choice here. Best of luck with those goals, and be sure to ask if you have any questions!