Hello everyone!

[Zloba]

So hello there, i'm from Slovakia and this is my story ...

 

It all started with new year and new beginnings (i'm sure everybody knows what i'm talking about).

 

At the end of 2017 i was 102.5kg @ 192cm. And that was after i've tried to eat healthy for about 3 months, earlier in the year (i went from 102kg down to 98.5kg between march-may 2017). But that didn't last long and old habbits were back. I'm working as IT administrator and after work i like to play PC games so my overall body activity is pretty low. Before the end of the year i met a friend of mine after 7 years. I remember him as a tiny guy with not much muscle. He went berserk and now looks like Hulk Hogan  (not really, but the comparison before-after is crazy). He talked about weight training and it was really interesting stuff.

 

So i've downloaded some apps to my phone with bodyweight training exercises for beginners. After 1st 20 minutes doing shoulder training, something went wrong with my left shoulder. It hurted for  the next whole week so i stopped exercising right at the start. When the pain went away after about 10 days i've tried another app and tried doing push-ups but the pain was back immediatelly after i've done my 1st push-up.

 

Well .. that was not a good sign but i wanted to keep working out. At this point i've found nerdfitness.com. I was browsing articles like crazy, reading one after another and after about a week i decided to go through the Beginner Bodyweight Workout. But i've made some adjustements. My worksheet is in the attachment.

 

I knew my shoulders are weak, so i've started with wall push-ups. And i was thinking about strenghtening the shoulders as well so i've added push-up alternatives - basically 3 of them:

2 exercises from this article - https://www.livestrong.com/video/1009761-alternatives-pushups/ and one exercise that looks like this - https://goo.gl/images/3Akv48.

 

My progression was like this:

 

Workouts 1-6

Squats - i've got no problems doing 20 squats

Push-ups - i was doing wall push-ups, slowly increasing the angle

Lunges - i just hated them. 3x16 was the max

Dumbbell rows - easy peasy

Plank - slowly icreased the time to 3x40 and that was already hell and nr.2 of the most hated exercise

Jumping jacks - it was ok for me to do 3x30 all the time

Weights - i was using 1.5-2l bottles full of water (2x1.5l bottles for 3kg weight)

 

After Workout 6 i needed to solve some problems:

- i was getting up on my toes during squats which as i've learned is wrong

- i was having pain in my left knee and ankle and i was suspecting the Lunges or Jumping jacks causing it

- the weights were too easy for me

 

Workouts 7-12

Squats - i've started doing them properly and slowly increasing the number of reps

Push-ups - i've started with elevated wide push-ups

Lunges - because of the pain i started with reverse lunges

Dumbbell rows - i've started to increase the number of reps, but after reading an article about strength vs mass vs endurance i came back to 3x10

Plank - i hated them even more - nr.1 exercise i hated the most .. but i've managed to do 3x50 seconds

Jumping jacks - because of the pain i've substituted Jumping Jacks with Split Jacks slowly increasing the number of reps

 

After Workout 12 the pain in the knee and ankle was gone long time ago so i decided to go back for normal lunges and jumping jacks

 

Workouts 13-18

Squats - i've continued to increase number of reps

Push-ups - i've started with knee push-ups with proper form (not wide)

Lunges - back to normal from Workout 14

Dumbbell rows - slowly increasing the weights

Plank - doing my best but still hate them

Jumping jacks - i've tried normal Jumping jacks from Workout 16 but the day after my ankle pain was back so back to Split jacks next time

 

After Workout 13

I've got a busy week, destroyed my diet routine and got drunk a lot in the weekend .. a disaster .. but i've managed to get back on track .. but it was hard as ever ..

 

Workout 18

Yesterday i've put everything into it and the results are:

 

9kg Dumbbell Lateral Raise combined with Front Raise (Lateral-Front-Lateral-Front-Lateral reps) - 3-5-3-6-3

10kg Dumbbell Bench Press (on bed) - 5-10-15

10kg Dumbbell Close Grip Bench Press (on bed) - 5-10-15

Bodyweight squats - 30-30-30

Knee Push-Ups - 10-9-9

Lunges - 30-30-30

10kg Dumbell Rows - 15-15-15

Plank - 56s-50s-50s

Split jacks - 60-60-60

 

I lost about 6kg in 6.5 weeks! That's almost double the weight (and could've been more) i lost before and all this in half less time. And i'm feeling great

 

Big question - What's next?

 

The last workout i hit my maximum and i think i need to start with something else (level up?). Also the time is important. My last workout was 100 minutes long which i find to be rather long. I'm working out every tuesday,  thursday and Saturday but i want to keep it 1 hour max.

 

After the last email from Steve with a 50% discount on Nerdfitness Academy i decided to jump in. But before that i decided to start with this Beginner Stopgap Dumbbell Workout because i like those Dumbbells - https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/zc0uy/a_beginner_dumbbell_program_the_dumbbell_stopgap/

 

 

Do you recommend this or should i start with the Academy?

 

I want to get my weight to about 90-91kg and then slowly build up muscles and make my way out to the gym. This is my goal right know.

And btw. i think that i fall in the category of skinny-fat people ;-) 

 

And that's pretty much everything i wanted to say. Sorry for the wall of text but i hope you're used to it because of Steve's emails and great articles .. at least i am now  

[Mr_Willes]

Paging @Wolfpool and @Endor so they can whine here about not keeping up with me cause of shoulder stuff.

 

J/k, I know they both have issues with their shoulders and can probably give you some solid advice on this.

 

7 minutes ago, Zloba said:

i think that i fall in the category of skinny-fat people ;-)

 

 

You'll like Wolfpool, he's also a skinny  

 

BTW, i'm from Belgium and also in IT.

[Zloba]

Well the issue with my shoulder is gone for now and i hope forever. I'm making progress with my push-ups and hope i will be doing the regular ones soon. I think my shoulders were just to weak and i pushed them too hard at the start - yeah now i know it was stupid

[Endor]

Academy sounds like a good idea for you i think you need something structured to follow.

Shoulders injuries can be significant and long term if not treated properly, I'd get it checked out if you have any doubt. At the same time beginners often mistake doms for injury but getting it checked is still a good idea.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[djryanash]

Hello Endor,

 

How are things coming along with the shoulders and the training? Any more injuries?