Greetings from the West of Ireland

[Hugh]

Well, here I am... another Irish Fitness Nerd in the Making.

So... my story...

I've been overweight and unfit for most of my life (except a brief stint in a physically demanding job for about a year - during which time I was pretty fit).

in the past few years my lifestyle has become more and more sedentiary and my metabolism (always slow) has become very sluggish.

My weight gradually drifted up to over 285lbs and no amount of "I'm still quite fit for my size" could detract from the fact I was heading down a dark and scary road. I'm a swordfighter and looked about me at some of the medieval re-enactors hereabouts and so many of the older ones tend to be fat, unfit, resting on their laurels and full of excuses. The fighters had good technique but no stamina to back it up. Many of them nurse chronic injuries which are more to do with being overweight than any actual fighting injuries.

I was the same - ok technique covering up abysmal fitness. I don't know how long I could have run for because I never tried. I could barely do 10 push ups. Pull up? Ha! I could barley hang from a bar!

In august last year I was still in denial and the prospect of making changes, while understood to be a good idea, was always "next year".

Then I got gout.

In both feet simultaneously.

While I was camping at a medieval event and expected to preform 3 or 4 swordfighting shows each day.

That wasn't fun at all but the intense pain, dulled only somewhat by taking dangerous quantities of ibuprofen, was a very loud and very clear wake-up call! I was in serious pain on and off for several weeks. That sure got my attention!

So, with equal parts enthusiasm and trepidation I started making changes. At first simple stuff: less beer, rum and port, making sure I had more than 1 meal a day, doing a bit of walking and some bodyweight exercises.

I eve did the slimfast thing for a couple of months. As I am wont to do, I trawled the internet for info on ways to regain health and fitness with a minimum of actual work or sacrifice! I found "Mark's Daily Apple" which was what really got me hooked on making changes to my lifestyle.

The Paleo/Primal thing seemed so sensible! So simple. Why didn't everyone do this?!?

So I started sampling the Paleo/Primal thing late last year and finally made the firm change in December... then put it on hold for christmas and started again in January

And here I am, 5 months later, about 50lb lighter.

I can now run 5km without a problem (still getting used to the VFFs though),

I can do 35 - 40 push ups in one go,

I can "plank" for over 90 seconds with no bother,

I can do 40 - 50 full squats,

I can't yet do even a single pull up but as my strength increases and my weight decreases, I'm getting closer each week.

I do strength training at least twice a week - bodyweight and kettlebells. I try to do HIIT once every ten days and I go walking or trail running when I can (though this past month I've been taking it easy as I overdid it in April and aggravated an achilles tendon injury).

Basically, I'm feeling good. I'm fitter and stronger and healthier than I've been in many years.

The Paleo diet / lifestyle is paying off and my fitness goals are being achieved slowly and steadily.

I found NF through various searches for ways to make dieting and fitness interesting and varied.

As my prepaid gym membership is coming to an end (and I can't afford to keep it going) I've been looking for inspirational ways to make exercising at home or outdoors more fun.

So here I am!

My short term fitness goals are as follows...

1: Pullups!! Just one will do for now.

2: Get my pushup sets to 50 & 50 (currently 40 & 25)

3: More walking (and running a bit too). Want to walk at least 4 hours per week.

Longer term, I'd like to get my body fat percentage down low enough to have visible abs (eventually) and to be able to learn to kip-up and maybe even a bit of parkour.

(oh, and to be able to wear 15th century hose and make them look good!)

Sorry. I've gone on a bit there

There you have it. That's where I am right now.

[Tom Kenobi]

Welcome to the Rebellion Hugh! Hope all is well in Ireland. Way to go on the weight progression and also what you can do for working out. If you have time, you might find the 20 Pull Up Challenge a great catalyst to getting your pull up counter going! Before I began doing it (currently in the middle of week 4) I wasn't able to do any - due to a 'break' in my workout schedule last year(was up to 2.5 full body weight FBW pulls before that), now I am at 5.5 FBW Pulls in a row! My goal: Reach 10 FBW Pulls in a Row, my reward: purchase NF T-Shirt. With not being able to do one, the program starts you on a couple 'negative' weeks. It goes, week -1, week -2, week 1 - 6. I added a week ZERO in there which I believe helped close the gap a bit better. Feel free to check out my NF Blog to see the progression. Also, HERE is the link to the website and on it you will find the PDF LINK that you can save or print off and use. Good luck man!

[Hugh]

Thanks Tom!

That pull up progression challenge looks good. I'll certainly make a point of doing that asap (although my gym membership is just about up so I'll need to find something sturdy in the garden to do them on).