Lurker works up courage to say Hi. Hi!

[MercuryHg]

Hello! I stumbled upon Nerd Fitness a little over a month ago. I was looking for some strength training information, and one of the first results was Staci's Strength Training 101 article. "Huh," I thought, "Nerd Fitness? Oh Google, you know me so well!"

 

Some background: when I was in college I worked at the campus book store. This was by far the strongest I have ever been. It turns out that carrying textbooks to and fro for a few hours a day really builds a lot of strength. Now I work in a cubicle, sitting in front of a computer all day. I realized that I am now probably weaker than I have ever been. And would very much like to change that.

 

Happily, I've been doing the Beginner Bodyweight Workout 3 times a week for about a month and I'm already seeing improvement! The first time I went through the workout I could barely get through 1 circuit. Now I can get through 3 circuits. My squats feel better, I've increased the weight on my dumbbell rows, my pushups...well, they still need work. But I'm getting there.

 

This isn't the first time I've tried to get in shape. But as I read more NF articles I realized that I had been expecting too much, too fast with my previous attempts. "Oh, you didn't lose 5 pounds in a week? Still can't do 10 pushups? Ah well, this isn't working, better quit." So to hear (er, read) that small steps and gradual improvement really should be the goal is very encouraging. I've been going through some tough times lately and I'm glad to have some achievable goals to focus on rather than setting unrealistic goals, failing, then going back down that depression spiral.

 

Personal info: I'm a petite female, 5'1" with shoes on. I work in IT doing a little bit of everything from general helpdesk to writing small programs to SQL database stuff. I'm a huge Star Wars nerd. I actually celebrated my graduation from college by staying up until 6am watching the original trilogy. I also enjoy archery, baking, and sewing. And going to theme parks. I love roller coasters!

 

Here's hoping I can continue down my path to self improvement. I'm excited to see where the journey takes me!

[Guzzi]

Welcome on board!

Glad to hear you're enjoying the bodyweight exercises, do you think you'll stick with bodyweight style excercises or do you fancy trying your hand at lifting, like Stacy?

Don't think that you need to start lifting to build muscle though... You can build some serious strength doing body weight exercises. And it's free!!!!

Have you sussed out the guilds and challenges? There's a new challenge starting tomorrow and you should definitely check out some threads, if you haven't already.

If you need any help then let me know. Just quote my comment and I'll see it on my notifications. xx

[MercuryHg]

I seem to be having trouble replying to this post. Let's see if this works.

Thanks for the welcome Guzzi! I'm sticking with the bodyweight exercises for now, but my long term goal is to get in to weightlifting.

Edit: Yay, this time it posted

[Guzzi]

Haha, yeah that happens to me sometimes, but more often it's the double or triple post.

 

If you're sticking with the bodyweight stuff right now then you should definitely check out Waldo's log, or his website http://strengthunbound.com/ He never does any weights, it's all bodyweight.  Good for picking up tips!