Young dog, old tricks

[TeaKwonDo]

Hi all!

I've been at this fitness thing since getting out of high school, and I've done half of everything in the book with shoddy results. Endless cardio sessions, calorie counting, low-carb, blah. I stumbled on NF while surfing paleohacks, and I'm loving how there's a nerd playground to geek about something that's even more weird to geek about than usual. =P

At the moment, I've been 90/10 paleo as of mid-February (surprisingly easy as I'm studying in France right now, though everyone probably wonders why I don't have a baguette with every meal...), and working out 5-6 mornings a week in some shape or form. Started Bodyrock in August, and if it weren't for living in an apartment where sound carries VERY easily, I'd still be doing it. As it is, I make up my own routines with what I've got on hand: bodyweight, a mat, a broom and chairs for bodyweight rows and knee raises, and a backpack with 13kg of flour/birdseed. I also walk at least 15 minutes each way to and from class, 5 days a week, in addition to regular out-and-about walking that comes with living in a small city. So I dunno where I fall on the activity scale, since it seems to be periods of walkwalkwalk interspersed with sitsitsit, and the morning workouts vary in intensity since I'm still unsure whether to go max effort every non-rest day (Bodyrock philosophy) or max effort three days a week and conditioning work with moderate effort in-between, which I've been doing the past couple weeks while lurking on NF.

My goals are strength and a sixpack, to be honest. My body sheds muscle very easily (though the belly/thigh cellulite stays well intact, annoyingly enough) so I'm trying to battle that with at least 100g protein/day (haven't checked recently, but I weigh about 125 lbs, hopefully not less). Although I detest calorie counting, I started Fitday a few days ago to monitor my macronutrients, and according to it I consume about 1800 calories a day. It's frustrating as hell to have developed little more than a defined ribcage and hipbones with the ever-present poochbelly over the last couple months, rather than the lats or abs I'm aiming for.

Current routine as of the last couple of weeks:

Monday: Fit test. 30 min-ish with 4 min warmup and stretching after.

Deadlifts 13kg backpack max reps in 4 min

Seated pullups max reps in 4 min (switching to bent-leg bodyweight rows when fatigued)

Pushups max reps in 4 min (switching to knee pushups when fatigued)

Squats holding 13kg backpack max reps in 4 min

Hanging-ish (suspended between two chairs) knee raises max reps in 4 min (switching to floor reverse crunches when fatigued)

Tuesday/Thursday: Still figuring it out, basic bodyweight intervals, something like 20 min of squats and knee pushups back-to-back 30 sec/30 sec, subbing planks for pushups when my form goes to shit.

Wednesday: Circuit, 5 rounds. Takes about 40 min, aiming to get it down to 30 min.

1-legged deadlifts 13kg x10 each leg

1-arm assisted pushups x5 each arm

Pistols assisted x5 each leg

1-arm bent-over row 13kg x10 each arm

Side plank single leg lifts x10 each side

Friday: Basic strength, intervals of 30 to 50 seconds with 10 seconds rest, 4-6 rounds.

Kettlebell swing with 13kg backpack

13kg squats

Decline or regular pushup

Bodyweight rows

Knee raises

Usually I feel like I didn't give my core enough of a workout, and I'm constantly checking my form. Trying to get the hang of engaging abs and glutes at the same time.

Whoop, was that too much for an intro post? =P

[Bumblebee4]

Welcome K-dog. Sounds like you are pretty high on the activity scale. Awesome that you're always looking to improve and find better ways! Glad to have ya here!