Coming over to the fora

[AllSaintsDay]

Hi,

I've been a longtime reader of the articles on this site (via RSS) but decided to come over to see what the fora were about.

Where I am now: I've been running pretty consistently (10-15km 3x a week), and also doing not-so-consistent body-weight workouts. I'm 5'8", and as of right after my run yesterday, I was 185lbs. [ETA: I'm 29 and male. Any other relevant info?]

I'd like to increase my strength (right now I'm a low-level version of the guy who can run all day but can't pick up a paper clip) and also continue to up my running distance (I have a goal of running all the way from my apartment to the butte overlooking the city and back). And I'd like my appearance to have less gut and more muscle.

What I'm looking for some help with:

-Setting good goals for strength. I kind of have no idea what's reasonable or where I'm at.

-Figuring out how to improve faster. I've been running because I love it and it's really easy to stick to, and during a stressful winter term it was at least something, but it is slow to burn the pounds.

Relevant to me looking for help:

-I really love running on trails, and I really hate driving to workout. The university gym is about a mile away, and I have a zillion good trails. But Oregon does have rain, mostly in winter.

-I'd like results as quickly as possible. I'm willing to adapt to whatever will work fastest, with the exception that I really, really want to keep the running, because that's where I draw my motivation from. And from now until school starts in the fall (and possibly beyond), time is not an issue at all.

As far as the Nerd part of Nerd Fitness, I'm mostly a board game nerd these days, but I also like RPGs (which I haven't actually played in ages) and video games (right now I'm mostly excited about the BL2 level cap increase tomorrow). And there's the part where I'm a mathematician, and often socially awkward. (It took quite some time to convince myself it's okay to come on the NF fora and ask for advice.)

[Rexxar Txan]

Welcome to the forums and the Rebellion!

 

Have you considered constructing a home gym? There are a lot of DIY gyms on the Net.

 

In any case. good luck with your strength training!!!

[AllSaintsDay]

Thanks for the welcome.

My initial reaction to a home gym is that it's not the optimal solution for me, as I don't have much room and I'm on the second floor. (And our apartment complex does not muffle neighbors' noises well. At all.) And, since my original post was probably somewhat unclear, by "a mile away" I mean that I'm perfectly happy to use the student rec center. Does that seem reasonable?

[Rexxar Txan]

That's true, your diet represents 80% of your success/faliure. I'd recommend reading Robb Wolf's book on the paleo diet. He explains everything in detail and in easy words to understand.