Deckard Gainz Posted October 12, 2017 Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 I thank you friend, for coming to my aid. As a token of my gratitude, I will identify my goals for you at no charge. Hello, my name is Matt and if none of this makes sense to you, don’t worry it’s all from a video game from 17 years ago. I stumbled upon this forum the same way I stumble upon most forums: by googling a question and trying to find answers. Most of the questions that lead me to these forums tend to be about diet and training, and most of the answers seem to devolve into debates quickly. The first thing I noticed about these forums is that the tone of the discussion, while including natural disagreements, was overwhelmingly positive, supportive, and by the dark lord, productive. My second observation was the name of the forums. I’m generally leery of anything performatively nerdy, so I searched through the site and I was reassured. I also got a general idea of how this works. So, I guess that’s my origin story. As with most things in my life, I’m stumbling in blindly and asking what’s going on. I’m a 31-year old white man, 5’10, ~235lbs @ ~25% body fat, and I’m looking to improve my physical appearance and my overall resilience and efficiency. I’ve been working out on and off for most of my life, sports as a child and teen, and primarily Stronglifts, cycling, and other various forms of light-to-moderate cardio in my adult years. I’ve generally approached these sorts of life improvement projects (and most of everything else in my life) as a lone wolf. I was raised to be strong and independent. It’s worked in many areas of my life, but my failures to adhere to diets and exercise/training programs suggest that I could use help. I’m looking to develop a network of accountability, as well as discussion and conversation that will keep me engaged and focused on meeting goals. I have been born with many privileges and I consider myself very fortunate to be in relatively good mental health, and well-positioned to improve my physical health as well. I hope to extend the benefits of my fortune to others in any way I can. The stronger I am, mentally and physically, the more I have to offer, the more useful I can be. Cheers. 4 Quote Stay awhile... we're liftin' Link to comment
RedStone Posted October 12, 2017 Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 2 hours ago, Deckard Gainz said: Hello, my name is Matt Heyooo Matt Quote The first thing I noticed about these forums is that the tone of the discussion, while including natural disagreements, was overwhelmingly positive, supportive, and by the dark lord, productive. Yup. That's how we do. Very little patience for the standard comment brawl of today's online stranger interactions. We are but a simple and thoughtful group, all trying to do the thing. It's dangerous to go it alone... Quote I’m looking to develop a network of accountability, as well as discussion and conversation that will keep me engaged and focused on meeting goals. I have been born with many privileges and I consider myself very fortunate to be in relatively good mental health, and well-positioned to improve my physical health as well. I hope to extend the benefits of my fortune to others in any way I can. The stronger I am, mentally and physically, the more I have to offer, the more useful I can be. Cheers. Welcome welcome! Community seems to be one of the most useful elements of health and fitness adherence and you'll find a lot of good, like minded folks here. Plus, you showed up at an excellent time, a new challenge cycle is starting next week, and it's a great way to get involved with the crew here. Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to work on? Goals? Preferences etc? Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
Deckard Gainz Posted October 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 1 hour ago, RedStone said: Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to work on? Goals? Preferences etc? Thanks for the quick response! I've been tinkering on the Challenge Planning Worksheet, trying to suss out what's realistic for a 4-week challenge and what's not. I have a tendency to start too big and back off when the going gets tough, so I'm thinking of starting easy. My biggest struggle is diet (both planning and execution) so I'm thinking of some goals like "Hit cals/macros X days a week" and/or "Track diet X days a week" the slider point being how many days I can rely on myself to do this. Currently I'm good for tracking maybe 1-2 days a week but it doesn't really help me figure out when I've done well or how it applies to the bigger picture. That always makes me think "this has to be all or nothing or it's kind of pointless" but that strategy has never worked so I want to try something different. Maybe incremental progress is the thing. My second big challenge is sticking to a workout routine. I tend to focus on strength training, and try to fit in cardio where it makes sense. I've been on and off Stronglifts for far too long (years) due to lapses. The lapses are often due to struggling to maintain linear progression, which is often due to lack of proper/consistent diet and sleep. It's a full-circle problem. With a little help and a little improvement, my longer term goal is to tough it through stalls and deloads and eventually progress to an intermediate program (hitting a few choice PRs along the way). My goals here on the simple side would be "work out 2-3 times a week," with the more difficult choice being to hit specific numbers on my lifts. Finally, in terms of general life improvement, I'm looking to tackle some of the underlying causes of my failures: lack of resilience/willpower, and inefficiency. Willpower kind of speaks for itself. Supposedly there are ways to train willpower to improve it. I don't know many details on how to do that. Inefficiency can be a number of things. At it's worst, it's me screwing off too much, playing video games mostly. Otherwise, t's me spending too much time on things I could be doing in a more efficient manner, or just cutting certain things out and streamlining my life to make more time and energy for self-improvement. No more going to bars and drinking 10 beers for no reason in particular. Stuff like that. A "level up my life" goal then would be something like "only go out X number of times in 4 weeks" or "play less than X hours of video games" or something like that. I think I've got a pretty decent outline, might need to let a few things cook longer, but definitely open to feedback! Quote Stay awhile... we're liftin' Link to comment
RedStone Posted October 13, 2017 Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 13 hours ago, Deckard Gainz said: Thanks for the quick response! I've been tinkering on the Challenge Planning Worksheet, trying to suss out what's realistic for a 4-week challenge and what's not. I have a tendency to start too big and back off when the going gets tough, so I'm thinking of starting easy. My biggest struggle is diet (both planning and execution) so I'm thinking of some goals like "Hit cals/macros X days a week" and/or "Track diet X days a week" the slider point being how many days I can rely on myself to do this. Currently I'm good for tracking maybe 1-2 days a week but it doesn't really help me figure out when I've done well or how it applies to the bigger picture. That always makes me think "this has to be all or nothing or it's kind of pointless" but that strategy has never worked so I want to try something different. Maybe incremental progress is the thing. My second big challenge is sticking to a workout routine. I tend to focus on strength training, and try to fit in cardio where it makes sense. I've been on and off Stronglifts for far too long (years) due to lapses. The lapses are often due to struggling to maintain linear progression, which is often due to lack of proper/consistent diet and sleep. It's a full-circle problem. With a little help and a little improvement, my longer term goal is to tough it through stalls and deloads and eventually progress to an intermediate program (hitting a few choice PRs along the way). My goals here on the simple side would be "work out 2-3 times a week," with the more difficult choice being to hit specific numbers on my lifts. Finally, in terms of general life improvement, I'm looking to tackle some of the underlying causes of my failures: lack of resilience/willpower, and inefficiency. Willpower kind of speaks for itself. Supposedly there are ways to train willpower to improve it. I don't know many details on how to do that. Inefficiency can be a number of things. At it's worst, it's me screwing off too much, playing video games mostly. Otherwise, t's me spending too much time on things I could be doing in a more efficient manner, or just cutting certain things out and streamlining my life to make more time and energy for self-improvement. No more going to bars and drinking 10 beers for no reason in particular. Stuff like that. A "level up my life" goal then would be something like "only go out X number of times in 4 weeks" or "play less than X hours of video games" or something like that. I think I've got a pretty decent outline, might need to let a few things cook longer, but definitely open to feedback! Yeah for sure, sounds like you're headed in the right direction! I think most of us have the tendency to take on too much right away and then burn out. We get an idea in our heads that we want the thing, we know that we have to do to get the thing, and want to make it all happen RIGHT NOW. In theory that would be great... but it rarely works. I like your idea to shoot for X-times per week, and it's something I often do in my own challenges as well. Even if it's something you want to do 7 days a week, giving yourself an ease in, like 3 or 4 to start, is much more realistic way to get that habit formed Willpower is much trickier thing imo, and I equate it with mental toughness. You do the thing because it's time to do the thing, whether you want to or not. You just have to..That's my basic credo. Methods for developing mental toughness involve developing awareness and focus, being able to lean into something that is awkward and uncomfortable, trusting the systems of self development and education and being patient with the process... I could go on. Popular methods around here include meditation, and simple ideas that come to mind include ditching device time for more concentrated tasks, and not letting yourself get distracted by the lights and noise of modern everything.... but really, it's different for everyone. Introspection is key and a worthwhile thing to look into to see what the best methods are for you. (One thing I'll do is trick myself with swag, particularly for things I really don't want to do. When I include rewards in my challenges I'm much more likely to do the thing I don't want to do.) You'll find lots of folks running, or having run stronglifts over in the warriors guild, (I think I started out with it...) as well as sprinkled here and there elsewhere on the forums, so you should have plenty of support in that area! If the only thing holding you back there is consistency, building the other habits should see you through 1 Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
Machete Posted October 14, 2017 Report Share Posted October 14, 2017 Nice. I've been working on a blog about fitness lessons I learned playing Diablo 2, but I got stuck somewhere and it's been untouched for months. This is inspiring me to work on it. 3 Quote Valar Morghulis Halfling Monk, Chaotic Neutral Machete's Blog: Inside A Mad Mind Third World Warrior: The Eight-Year Training Log Link to comment
RedStone Posted October 15, 2017 Report Share Posted October 15, 2017 17 hours ago, Machete said: Nice. I've been working on a blog about fitness lessons I learned playing Diablo 2, but I got stuck somewhere and it's been untouched for months. This is inspiring me to work on it. omg this needs to happen. hit me when it's ready lol I've been tryin to get my digs together for mine... heavy pixel art and typical redstone rants. 2018... year of the blog?? 1 Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
Deckard Gainz Posted October 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 On 10/14/2017 at 3:10 PM, Machete said: Nice. I've been working on a blog about fitness lessons I learned playing Diablo 2, but I got stuck somewhere and it's been untouched for months. This is inspiring me to work on it. I'd be really interested to see what this is all about. Respeccing IRL is as difficult as it was in vanilla d2? Help your buddies out with chaos runs? You can't go around the gym shouting IST FOR JAH.... You gotta be able to farm baal before you can take down ubers? Are these cuts too deep?? 23 hours ago, RedStone said: omg this needs to happen. hit me when it's ready lol I've been tryin to get my digs together for mine... heavy pixel art and typical redstone rants. 2018... year of the blog?? I can help out with custom pixel art if it helps sweeten the pot (here's something from a weekend hackathon/game jam I did with some friends last year). 4 Quote Stay awhile... we're liftin' Link to comment
Laghail Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Welcome to the rebellion Matt. I'll add my 'me too' for stronglifts and running the program a bit too long. Great app, dunno if I could have started lifting without it. Where was your last stall out? Quote Level 38 [Raveling Bard] Link to comment
Deckard Gainz Posted October 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 2 hours ago, Laghail said: Welcome to the rebellion Matt. I'll add my 'me too' for stronglifts and running the program a bit too long. Great app, dunno if I could have started lifting without it. Where was your last stall out? I stalled on deadlifts last week and the week before, and I stalled twice on squats on Thursday and Saturday (23/25 Thursday, 19/25 Sat and 1 rep at a deload weight for last set). Current deloads are the first since I restarted in mid-August (so about 10 weeks ago), but not my first ever. Bench, OHP, and rows are still progressing fine. I’ve got a ton of thoughts about what’s happening and why, but I’ll leave it at that for now. Thoughts, suggestions, all welcome. 1 Quote Stay awhile... we're liftin' Link to comment
Machete Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/16/2017 at 9:02 AM, Deckard Gainz said: I'd be really interested to see what this is all about. Respeccing IRL is as difficult as it was in vanilla d2? Help your buddies out with chaos runs? You can't go around the gym shouting IST FOR JAH.... You gotta be able to farm baal before you can take down ubers? Are these cuts too deep?? Mostly periodization, goal-setting, and betting on your strengths stuff. I did on on Final Fantasy Tactics, and am also trying for Fallout 2. 2 Quote Valar Morghulis Halfling Monk, Chaotic Neutral Machete's Blog: Inside A Mad Mind Third World Warrior: The Eight-Year Training Log Link to comment
Rooks Posted October 19, 2017 Report Share Posted October 19, 2017 Great names, both your NF name (who didn't love D2) and RL name (I'm a Matt as well). Welcome to the Rebellion. Hopefully you stick around and this place can proof useful for you. Let me know if you can help, although people who are much smarter than I have already commented on this thread. 1 Quote Link to comment
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