One step at a time

[Glynis]

Wow. Since discovering this site on Tuesday, my work productivity has decreased significantly. Fortunately I'm between deadlines at the moment!

My name is Glynis. I'm a 25-year-old writer and recovering high-school gym class attendee, where years of physical incompetence and a surplus of assholes made me believe I would never accomplish anything, fitness-wise. My therapy? Running, which I didn't take up until I was 23 in November 2009, and was just wanting to be sociable in my new job (my coworkers invited me to the gym, I tagged along and hit the treadmill). Eventually I needed a goal; in my 10-ish months of training, I went from a bottom-of-the-barrel fitness level to losing nearly 30 lbs and running my first half-marathon last September with a time of 1:49:18. Running has been a major boost to my self-efficacy.

I also do some weight training but am pretty scrawny (5'6'' and about 118lbs—and only this much because I just got back from a food-filled vacation ) I like what I've read here thus far about strength training and hope to implement some of the tips I've read here. My diet could use some work—there's a lot of fruits and vegetables and not a whole lot of proteins and healthy fats. I'm intrigued by what I've read about the Paleo Diet...when I first heard about it, I dismissed it as fanatical ramblings, but I'd be interested in trying a modified version of my own (the hardcore paleos will be prying my oatmeal from my bony fingers!).

That's me (or my fitness side, anyway) in a nutshell—and now, it's off to the gym for some strength training, where I resolve to use heavier weights than usual!

[tsuchinoko92]

Welcome aboard Glynis!

Already beat you on the hardcore mode, since I eat oatmeal despite being paleo.

By the way, this is quite insightful about paleo eating(calories don't matter):http://nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?3507-Perspective-flipping-into-Paleo-mode

[SeventhCycle]

Hi Glynis!

Welcome to NF! Here's wishing you best of luck on attaining your goals. So, what kind of goals do you have for your strength training?

[Glynis]

Hi Glynis!

Welcome to NF! Here's wishing you best of luck on attaining your goals. So, what kind of goals do you have for your strength training?

Hello!

Hmm, goals…my primarily goal would be a strong core and a defined back and shoulders. None of these areas look completely untoned or flabby by any means, but they definitely don’t reflect countless hours in the gym. After all that time, I still can’t do more than about two full pushups.

I could also work on trying more variety, I think. I’ve made a few positive changes recently—switching from machines to free weights and doing more “bang for your buck” exercises like lunges, planks, etc. I wouldn’t mind cutting back a bit on gym cardio (it’s summer—who wants to spend time inside on the Stairmaster?) and using that time to focus on strength training instead.

I’d like to lower my overall body fat percentage—though exactly what it is at the moment isn’t clear to me. I’ve used different online calculators and they’ve put me anywhere between 12 and 30 percent. Because I’m a frequent runner, I tend to lose weight quite easily, so it would be nice to maintain my weight while replacing some fat with muscle.

[SeventhCycle]

I’d like to lower my overall body fat percentage—though exactly what it is at the moment isn’t clear to me. I’ve used different online calculators and they’ve put me anywhere between 12 and 30 percent. Because I’m a frequent runner, I tend to lose weight quite easily, so it would be nice to maintain my weight while replacing some fat with muscle.

The articles on NF recommend getting some calipers and measuring it manually. I'm a little bit lazier in that respect, so I've been using a Fat Loss Monitor (Omron HBF-306C ran me around $30). It's given me consistent results between different measurings, and I'm slowly seeing my body fat percentage go down.

As for the push-ups, I'd say try doing more bench-presses with dumbbells. They give you a similar range of motion, and you can slowly work the weight up to a point where push-ups won't bother you.

A while back, I was doing a program called 100 pushups (there's an iPhone app for it), which helped build up the amount of push-ups you can do over time. It all depends on if you're looking to do lots and lots of push-ups, or just have better strength overall.

Anyhow, best of luck, and welcome!