New(ish) Ranger

[Katia_the_Bard]

Hi,

 

So I'm not new to Nerd Fitness in general as I've been subscribed to the emails for a long time now, but I recently decided to take the next step and become more involved in the rebellion. I've generally tried to live a healthy lifestyle but this last semester of college I recently lost my way and began snacking a lot and exercising less and I ended up gaining a lot of weight fast. Granted I was under a lot of stress, but I'm starting medical school in the fall so I think its safe to say that stress will always be a part of my life and I can't use that as an excuse. 

 

As far as goals I'm modeling them off of the Navy PRT because I don't want to embarrass myself at ODS next summer. 

[Happytin]

Learning healthier ways of coping with stress once you've accepted that it will always be there sounds like a great path. I did something similar in college - I ended up 28lb heavier by eating a large bar of whole hazelnut chocolate each day to deal with the stress. Sad times.

 

I look forward to seeing you hitting those goals. Good luck!

[Guzzi]

Hey, welcome on board!

 

How have you found the forum so far? It's a big place and can be quite intimidating when you first join so I'll give you some links to help you find your way about. (I know you said you've been a member for a while but I see that this is your first post so ill explain some things anyway)

 

I like to recommend the 4 Week Challenges to people because it makes you an active participant in the forum. You can read the challenge description Here

 

Joining in the challenges will allow you to meet other members, form friendships, and get some accountability. They're also a really good tool to help you reach your long term goals by breaking them down into smaller, short term goals which I think is important in keeping you motivated.

 

The current challenge ends very soon but a new one will start on the 17th. You can have a look through the challenge threads and get a feel for it and pop down to the Ranger chat thread to introduce yourself. 

 

You've already picked a Guild so I'm guessing you've read up about those already.  

 

What are your plans for achieving your fitness goals, have you thought out how you are going to break them down into smaller SMART (Sustainable, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals? We can help you with that if you aren't sure. 

[Katia_the_Bard]

So my specific goals are to:

 

Run an 8 min mile

Be able to do 40 consecutive pushups

Be able to do 90 sit ups

 

by June of next year. But I would love advice on how to break them down for a month to month basis. Right now I can run a little over a 10 min mile and do about 12 push ups.  

[Guzzi]

Wow! That's impressive. I can't even do 1 push-up, lol!  

 

Although those are your specific goals, I'm sure you will want to have a broader exercise routine that will be more fun and maybe you will even find new things that you haven't tried before. Building your strength and stamina overall will have a direct result on your abilities. 

 

What kind of fitness activities are you interested in? 

 

There are plenty of people who can help you develop a running program in the running sub-forum Here and it's also worth checking out the Scouts for when you come to do a challenge, you'll get lots of help and support from experience runners. Maybe @RandMart can offer some advice  (<--that's directed at him btw  )

 

As for push-ups, some people like to use bench press as a tool to increase arm and chest strength which has a direct carryover to push-ups. There was also a push-up challenge doing the rounds a while back, where people did Xnumber (I think it was 100) push-ups over the course of a day for a week. I remember that was one of the things that got me my elusive 1st proper push-up. It's important to make sure you have proper form though, Here is the NF guide. (You probably don't need that, but it's amazing how many people do it with poor form). 

[Igaduma]

15 hours ago, Katia_the_Bard said:

by June of next year. But I would love advice on how to break them down for a month to month basis. Right now I can run a little over a 10 min mile and do about 12 push ups.  

One think I did for push-ups (and it should work for situps as well) that worked is this:

Do push-ups until you can't do any more.  Then take 60% of that number (rounded down).  

The next session you do the 60%.  Each session, add one push-up.  Until you reach your initial max.

 

At that moment you do push-ups until failure again.  Take 60% of that number,...  until you reach your goal.

 

There's also http://hundredpushups.com/ but thats 2.5 times your goal.  But nothing is stopping you from following their schedule until 40.

[Katia_the_Bard]

One think I did for push-ups (and it should work for situps as well) that worked is this:

Do push-ups until you can't do any more.  Then take 60% of that number (rounded down).  

The next session you do the 60%.  Each session, add one push-up.  Until you reach your initial max.

 

At that moment you do push-ups until failure again.  Take 60% of that number,...  until you reach your goal.

 

There's also http://hundredpushups.com/ but thats 2.5 times your goal.  But nothing is stopping you from following their schedule until 40.

Oh wow thanks, I will def take a look at this