JasonACraft Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Today's my 6 month weigh in. After last month's negative results I was in a really bad place for a while. Then I got my annual health screening and learned my cholesterol is utter crap still. Yeah genetics... Basically after phoning it in for a week I settled back down and hit it hard. I only eat fruits, veggies, meat, ....and sugar. I'm awful for sweets, I stress eat, and I'm only sleeping 4-5hrs a night. Thanks kids.... Anyways! Just keep swimming, 3-4 workouts a week, eat right 90-95% of the time, and only have a little treat if I'm going to cave. My motto has become: Today's Decisions are Tomorrow's Consequences. Here are my stats, I'm pretty happy with this and feel way motivated to keep at it until this spare tire is gone. Progress: -I can finally do full pushups with minimal pain in my shoulder. -4 consecutive dead-hang pullups -Started Mountain bike/ trail riding. Have only flipped over the handle bars and cracked my helmet once... 3 Quote Link to comment
JustCallMeAmber Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 5 hours ago, JasonACraft said: My motto has become: Today's Decisions are Tomorrow's Consequences. Conquests! Congrats on your progress! I'm quite jealous of your pull-ups, as I still can't do one.. Keep up the good work! 1 Quote We will never see the best version of ourselves inside our comfort zone Link to comment
turboseize Posted January 17, 2017 Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 Another 6 months are over... how have you been doing? 1 Quote Rowing, rucking, running, lifting heavy stuff. Why not do it all? Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 Another 6 months are over... how have you been doing? I went down another 10lbs, and put 5 back on. I've been doing gmb fitness programs and getting much stronger. A year ago I couldn't even do a pushup, now I rep done everyday. These pics aren't the best because I specifically bulked during the holidays, which really worked and something I'll have to look into more. During my "low key" month in December muscle size and strength grew immensely. Everything I do is body weight and calisthenics. Thanks for asking 😊 Quote Link to comment
turboseize Posted January 17, 2017 Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 Nice progress. Really a lot more muscle and less fat. Perhaps you might want to work on your upper back a bit more (trapezius, but especially rhomboideus and roatator cuff) - I see rounded shoulders. You might start to develop a severe case of Gym bro posture... Bonus points for the beard, though. 1 Quote Rowing, rucking, running, lifting heavy stuff. Why not do it all? Link to comment
Guzzi Posted January 17, 2017 Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 There's a HUGE increase in the size of your arms and your bf% is significantly lower. Well done. 2 Quote Make Life Rue The Day Turning back the clock Recipe book 14 Life is far too short to take seriously Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 Thanks everybody! Perhaps you might want to work on your upper back a bit more (trapezius, but especially rhomboideus and roatator cuff) - I see rounded shoulders. I noticed that too right after these! I thought all the pull ups and rows would be enough to help with that, but then reading a little about it this morning I realize I'm trying to correct 30+yrs of bad posture. Tips always welcome! Quote Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 Thanks everybody! I noticed that too right after these! I thought all the pull ups and rows would be enough to help with that, but then reading a little about it this morning I realize I'm trying to correct 30+yrs of bad posture. Tips always welcome! I think, on further reflection, the pulls are all working. They're just going to take time to fix. Took months to change the way I ate, to build enough strength to lift myself, even longer to push myself. Just stick with it and see. I'm always squeezing the shoulder blades together when pulling, the posture will cone in time too. 1 Quote Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 I have bridge work throughout the week, but adding daily as well. Thanks again for pointing it out! 1 Quote Link to comment
turboseize Posted January 17, 2017 Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 On 17.1.2017 at 7:53 PM, JasonACraft said: I think, on further reflection, the pulls are all working. They're just going to take time to fix. Took months to change the way I ate, to build enough strength to lift myself, even longer to push myself. Just stick with it and see. I'm always squeezing the shoulder blades together when pulling, the posture will cone in time too. Squeezing the shoulder blades generally is a good idea. However, I've seen more than one guy/girl who just could'nt really engage their upper back. I've also seen a lot of people who, when told to fix their wonky shoulders, would shrug and pull the shoulder blades up instead of inwards and down. Two cues that I personally find helpful: - flex your arms until you have a 90° angle at you elbows. Draw a mental line through your lower arms. With the typical Gollum (untrained) or Gym Bro (with muscles) posture*, these lines will intersect at a point about 15-40cm in front of your belly. Now rotate the arms outwards, until the "lower arm lines" are at least parallel (meet in infinity), but better yet, point outwards (meet behind your back). or - roll your shoulders up, back and DOWN. Also helpful is a tactile cue: have a friend place a finger on your spine between the shoulder blades, and then you try to catch and break the finger. It is of great importance that you end your pulling motions in this position. If you are strong enough, you might want to start a pull with "loose" shoulders and pull them into position during the pull (this gives greater range of motion). If, on the other hand, your m. trapezius ascendens, m. rhomboideus, rear delta and some part sof the rotator cuff are either to weak or you are not very good at activating them, start by locking the shoulder blades into position before you start the pull. If you cannot control movement of shoulder blades during the pull, you'll pull more with your arms and less with your back, wich means that 1) you limit total weight and 2) even less of this reduced weight hits the poor back muscles you were trying to train... A nice tool to isolate the neglected muscles are "Y, T, W, L" band pulls. (Shown at 9:40 in the video.) * Note how I said "gym bro posture" in my first comment. With your newfound muscles, that is definitely no longer Gollum-like. :-) 1 Quote Rowing, rucking, running, lifting heavy stuff. Why not do it all? Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 That was an awesomely well rounded video. There's so much info in there I'm going to have to watch it again. The focus points on not 'winging' up and out are big ones. I can rotate my shoulder all the way around without wings or lumbar pushing, but I can feel how there's not enough development in those muscles to hold it properly. Can I just say how great this is!? Thank you random stranger on the internet for asking how I'm progressing and leading to this path of feedback and correction. Y-T-W-L is being added in with bridges daily. Also for thinking I'm not Gollum like anymore. 4 Quote Link to comment
Guzzi Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Wow! Awesome vid @turboseize! I didn't think I had any problems with my shoulder mobility but I can't do some of the tests he shows. I'm totally stealing this vid. 1 Quote Make Life Rue The Day Turning back the clock Recipe book 14 Life is far too short to take seriously Link to comment
JasonACraft Posted January 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 Wow! Awesome vid @turboseize! I didn't think I had any problems with my shoulder mobility but I can't do some of the tests he shows. I'm totally stealing this vid. [emoji6] I've got my band set up in the kitchen and do the YTWL 3reps, 3 times a day and man....can I feel it. It's only been a few days but I can already tell how it's isolating those muscles and forcing them to work. Thanks again turbo! 1 Quote Link to comment
Guzzi Posted January 24, 2017 Report Share Posted January 24, 2017 I've been doing the stretches today and ugh! My shoulders! I can't believe how tight they were. 1 Quote Make Life Rue The Day Turning back the clock Recipe book 14 Life is far too short to take seriously Link to comment
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