ComradeTalls Reporting for Duty!

[ComradeTalls]

Hey, what's up fellow Rebels?

I'll try not to ramble on too much here, but since I'm new to the Rebellion boards, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Joe Talls, I'm 29, and I live just off the shores of mighty Lake Superior in Marquette, MI. Although I'm new to the forums, my real fitness journey started on April 17th of this year. I'm a few months into leveling up my life, but for way too many years I had only been living at about 10% of my potential. My days consisted mostly of sleeping, eating and going to work. My nights were spent illuminated by the glow of the TV...which I usually fell asleep in front of.

Wake up. Rinse and repeat.

I had previously made a New Year's Resolution to begin making small changes in 2015 with the sole intent of improving my quality of life. But it wasn't until early April, when I tipped the scales at 270lbs. (my personal heaviest) that I decided to reclaim my fitness. Even at 6'1, I was starting to look like a blob. And heck, I had already been a big guy my whole life...I wanted to know what being a fit guy felt like.

So on April 17th, I dumped out all the soda in my house and quit cold turkey. This was a huge step for me, since I had been a heavy soda drinker for 20+ years. That was step one. Then I started exercising 2-4 times a week -- mostly hiking, tennis and walking to/from work. That was step two. I was having fun, feeling good and losing weight, but my fitness lacked structure and regularity.

That's when I found Nerd Fitness. Within a few days of investigating the website and reading the blog, I decided to shell out the $99 and join the Academy (May 18th). This turned out to be the best decision I had ever made, and following Steve & Staci's program really jumpstarted my workouts and turned out to be the missing piece of the puzzle for me.

Over the last few months, I've been going through the Academy -- strength training, completing quests, learning about proper nutrition, and well basically...loving life for the first time since I was a kid! Currently I'm down to 238.8 lbs from 270. I haven't measured myself properly since joining NFA, so I don't have the exact current numbers...but I know I've been crushing it and I feel better everyday. Nerd Fitness has truly given me a new lease on life.

Recently, Steve sent out an e-mail saying they were shutting down the private Academy member forums, and urged us to join the private Facebook group or these forums over here. Since I'm not comfortable mixing my Facebook and my fitness yet, I decided to check out the message boards over here and they look awesome! So here I am.

I plan on participating in the next 6-week challenge, but until then, I have all kinds of quests and Academy workouts to keep me busy. Since the RPG format is a little different here, I think this will give me a fair amount of time to get used to how you guys do things over here. But I like what I see so far.

--

Currently, I'm involved in the following activities on a regular/semi-regular basis. I put them in order from the things I do most often, to the things I do the least or am just learning:
 

• Walking
• Bodyweight Strength Training (every Mon, Wed, and Fri...this week will be 6 weeks straight, no misses!)
• Tennis (2-4 hours/week)
• Hiking
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Tai Chi

 

And here's some things I'm looking to do as I progress through my fitness journey. Some of these things I've wanted to do my whole life and have always been too scared...in no particular order:

 

• Quit Smoking
• Rock Climbing
• Archery
• Dumbbell Strength Training
• Run a Zombie5k
• Backpacking
• Martial Arts
• Pick-up Soccer (HUGE fútbol fan!)

Okay, damn. I did end up rambling. Well, that's enough about me for now. It's great to be here and I hope to hear back from some of you. If anyone has advice for a new guy like me around here, definitely feel free to hit me up! I'd love to meet anyone and everyone on a similar fitness journey.
 

 

Until then, take care fellow rebels.

 

 

-ComradeTalls

[Juvi]

Hi Joe!

 

I liked to read your story, which sounds familiar  

 

On my own list, there is a tiny notice saying "Run a Zombie5k". Maybe we can try this together in the next Challenge?

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome to the rebellion! Good job on the progress you've made so far, glad to have you on the forums. Keep up the good work.

 

And just because I want to be the first to say it on the forums (I'm sure you've heard it before): You're killing me Talls!

[ComradeTalls]

Hey guys, thanks for hitting me back!

@Juvi - I'm really excited to work towards doing a Zombie5k (or any 5k, for that matter), but I have virtually no running experience. So the 5k may be my overarching main goal, with some of my 6-week challenge goals designed to help me prepare for that. The current plan now is to buy a good pair of running shoes after the weekend and start with the C25K program early next week. Being overweight and a smoker, I'm not sure that I'm quite there yet...but getting closer!

 

@Tanktimus - Thanks for the warm welcome, buddy. And, believe it or not, I've actually never heard that before! Brings me back to watching that movie as a kid, though. Good stuff.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

That makes my day. I figured it would be so obvious you were sick of hearing it.  Good luck on the couch to 5k.