Do you look like THIS?

23 minutes of running, 2.1 miles. sore lungs.

Meant to go for a 4.5 mile run today, woke up too late. Would go tomorrow morning, but it’s gonna rain. SMH.

Insurance physical suggested that I was nudging up to 180lb, blood pressure is borderline high, and cholesterol could certainly be lower. And above the waist I am considerably south of Mr. Brady.

I would like to rectify these things.

Trying to do the “Couch to 5k” plan somebody posted a few days ago as well.

Did a 5K in Dec, signed up for an 8K in late march, trying to finish under 45 mins. Did 3 miles on Friday, took it easy this weekend, going for 3.5 or 4 tomorrow, which will be the longest I’ve ever run. Probably going to sign up for a Half Marathon soon, which is going to be in early June. If I hit 10 miles, stay in the midwest, and there are still spots, I’ll sign up for the Chicago Marathon. (Which will be during my first few months of law school. which is probably a bad idea, but whatever). Trying to consistently run between 3-5 every morning before work.

So I could give those titties four thumbs down.

College life has made me fat and lazy. Before, in Japan, I was doing 10k’s 3x a week. By way of comparison, tonight I got on the treadmill and was happy to jog/walk for a combo of 500 calories in 35 minutes. For the next two weeks or so, it’s all about getting my legs back under me, with no goals as far as time or distance or whatever, as long as I can keep getting the time it takes to get to 500 calories shorter and shorter. after that, when I’m back to being able to run comfortably for a whole 30 minutes, it’s time to start working on my 2 mile time again, because eventually I’ll have to run an Army PT test. Goal is eventually 15 min for 2 miles, then finish out the rest of 10km, 3x per week. Then go from there.

Baseball season is starting, though, so I don’t know how much of that I’ll be able to keep up, getting home from school three hours later.

In prep for an 8k run. Since then we’ve run the Broad Street 10 miler twice. We have a 7.5 mile route over modest hills — I’m happy to finish it in 55:00 and she’s usually ~10 minutes behind me. I also have a slightly hillier 5 mile route, on good days I get that done in 37:00. I really do prefer running on a treadmill at the gym though. It’s easier to control my speed, and I can reward myself with a sauna afterwards. My goal is 8 miles in 60:00, I get that about 1/2 the time. We’ve both lost 5-10lbs since we started, and we were pretty fit to begin with.

One thing I started last year for losing weight and general health improvement is to go dry and meat-free during Feb. It’s a pretty dead month, so I don’t miss out on many parties. There also aren’t sporting events to hang out and drink at (besides college hoops). If the Super Bowl is your thing, then do the 4 weeks between SB and the start of conference tournaments, aka Lent-for-sports-fans. I gave myself a couple of exceptions, like one or two drinks on Valentine’s day and a glass of wine at a family dinner. I’m not a monk after all. I might have allowed myself fish on Fridays, too.

Of course I increased my exercise, but not really by all that much. I do a lot of walking, typically between 2 and 5 miles while at work. I did one and a half months of the Insanity work out (widely available on the internet until SOPA/PIPA passes).

Also, tracked what I ate through www.myfitnesspal.com; I’m an engineer so the basic equation of take in less than you burn out is a pretty simple philosophy. Eat less than you burn, that’s really all you need to know (work out more eat more; work out less eat less).

The main benefit to calorie counting is that you learn there are a lot more calories in food than you would expect (at least I learned that). And eating at restaurants is a sure fire method to never be able to lose weight. I cook at home a lot more.

Hopefully not a soap box comment, just passing along some of the methodology that worked for me.

We did intervals close to week 3 of the Couch to 5K plan since we’re already fairly active walking, hiking, and paddling. My goal is to go from my 31"-waist pants fitting snugly to the 30’s fitting comfortably again.

I’m also getting back to my ab routine and considering adding weights for better muscle definition. Does anyone know of a good beginning weight training workout plan available online?

Tangentially related to fitness and exercise, it’s amazing how good it feels to be back on #teamnotsmoking after close to a decade of being nicotine-dependent. I quit by using an e-cigarette to placate cravings and then slowly backing my dosage down to the point where I now go days without needing a drag. I still take the e-cig with me if I go out drinking so as to prevent slip-ups, but I had my last cigarette 57 days ago!

dammit – I thought peeps were just jogging last night… sigh

all right you bastards lets do it

gotta cut soft drinks and eat less fried food and we’ll start with a three mile run after work

glasses of water all day from now on – gotta hydrate haterz

but I walked 4 minutes of it.

5 minute walk to warm up, then 8 repeats of (jog 1 minute, walk 1 1/2 minutes), then a couple more minutes of walking to cool down. Total distance about 1.75 miles.

I need to look more like a weakside linebacker

So it’ll be difficult for me to participate in this ongoing forum since i avoid weighing myself and counting calories for my own sanity. I can say that, in the last 6 months, my waistline has moved 5 belt holes in the good direction. I was doing crossfit 3x per week and supplementing that with 1-3 mile runs until I wrenched my ankle in November. After 1.5 months off I’m staying active simply by doing varying mixes of pushups, situps, squats, lunges, and burpees at home and making an attempt to run when the weather allows (1-2x weekly). Does anyone know of something I can do for my back since I can’t do pullups?

I ran 3.2 miles today at a steady pace and I’ll do a series of sprints either tomorrow or the next day if my knees allow it.

Crossfit 4x a week. (no change here)
Running 3x a week. (added 2x per week)
One day of rest (so I’ll have a doubled day (sat or sun) every week until March).

Not really going for any other goal other than vanquishing my sibling in the race.
They did 7 miles on Saturday and could barely move at dinner (been out of training due to injury, but ran/runs 1/2s and fulls).
I did 3.5 miles at a 8 min/mile clip and started to tail off at the end.

I think I may have a chance. Gotta build to 10 miles by Smarch 1.

Start off at minimum resistance, increment every 1/4 mile until the halfway point, then decrement every 1/4 mile. Pace about 6:20/mile.

Same as Monday’s, but I did this one on the treadmill instead of outdoors (due to ALL THE RAIN overnight).

that way we can all track each other’s progress.

Trying to keep to a regular-ish schedule of Couch-to-5K program MWF, stationary bike TuTh, longer-distance walk on the weekend (hiking, or just going around Town Lake).

Third verse, same as the first and second.

1) Find your watch, Erik.
2) My knees…. don’t hurt. WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT.
3) I really need to think more about consistency and less about RAGH DO ONE SUPER RUN. More shorter runs would really be better for me.

12.6 miles, 373 calories. Weighed in afterwards at 190.6. I want to lose at least 5 pounds by valentine’s day, since that’s when the ladyfriend visits. realistic?

Total elevation change probably ~400 feet each direction, including three relatively steep 100-foot ascents and descents each.

Today: start of Week 2 for Couch-to-5K. Wasn’t up early enough to do it before work, so I hit the treadmill tonight (didn’t want to do outside due to rain). Five minutes walking, then six repeats of (1.5 minutes jogging + 2 minutes walking), then a few more minutes of walking to cool down; total of 1.75 miles.

370 or so calories. weight swung from 190.6 to 187.5. Cutting out booze for every day except the super bowl, and avoiding bread. Ideally I’ll get down to 178 (I’m 6 feet tall). We’ll see where I am on the 16th or so.

…it’s more the composition (too much fat, not enough muscle).

That said, I have spent most of this month trying to trim down a little. At first measurement on January 5, I was at 158.6 (I’m only 5’7", so that’s higher than it sounds). Have successfully come down to 152.2, aiming for an ultimate goal of about 147, to be reached ideally in the next 2.5 weeks. While I have done at least some form of exercise every day without interruption for five full weeks (a personal best by quite some distance), I’d wager this probably has more to do with a significant reduction of both booze and [insert your favorite regionalism for “soft drink” here].

Anyway, on to my main point. In the long term, what I’m really interested in is more trading fat for muscle. The problem is that while I’m not too lazy to work out, I generally am too lazy to actually go somewhere to do it. Been doing a regimen of pushups/situps at home, but wondered if y’all have any further recommendations. In particular, I feel like I’m neglecting the lower body a bit.

My workout is:
Run 1 mile
100 (jumping) pull up
100 push ups
100 squats
Run 1 mile

183.5 lbs. That can’t be healthy, methinks, how much I’ve lost over 3 days. I mean, I’ve cut out every drink but water and milk, all potatoes (that’s the hardest), and sweets (the second-hardest). My goal is 178.

When coach blows his whistle. I don’t even know how much running I do and I don’t want to know. Actually this spring hasn’t been so bad with the new assistant/almost-head coach focusing on sprints and technical skills.

I do a lap or two around Bartz Field (about a mile or so) after I lift. Also factor in the fact I live 6 miles off of campus and my only mode of transportation is a bike because buses don’t run out to my part of town until the summer. I get about 12-14 miles a day most days.

My basic stats:

5’2"
160 lbs
18% Body Fat
Best ever bench: 175, 4x
I calf press over 300 pounds :) /true story

October-December 2010, I was doing average sets between 700-800 lbs with max sets around 1100 lbs x10, then I said “Ahh fuck it,” threw on a cougar head and partied until I got fat and out of shape. Getting back into working out; 450 lbs crossed from comfortable weight to way too easy today, so I finally get to add another 100 lbs.

Also, do you guys use any sort of online tracker? I’m on Daily Burn, but since my girlfriend isn’t updating hers and I workout with her at the gym anyway, I don’t have much in the form of additional accountability.

No drinking for 2 weeks. Going to the Y tonight, will do about 25 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of arm stuff.

Week 2, Day 2 of Couch-to-5K on the treadmill today (1.75 miles in 27 minutes – 9 minutes of jogging in six 90-second chunks, separated by 2 minutes of walking plus some extra to warm up and cool down).

also lifted on Friday.

(post-workout dehydrated weight).

Also, we’re about 4-5 days into a month-long 90% Vegan diet (Valentine’s Dinner out is exempt, plus we’re not stressing too much about OMG IS THAT BROTH MADE WITH CHICKEN STOCK because we’re not doing it for spidery reasons). Things are going well—our purpose is to change things up, figure out some more vegetable dishes we can integrate into our normal diet, and just see how it goes. I’m hungry all the time, not in not being full, but just…want meat. But I’m getting used to it. March 1st we’re barbecuing.

1/4 mile walk to warm up, then 1/8 mile jogging, 1/8 mile walking, 1/4 mile each, 1/8 mile each, 1/4 mile each. Total time about 28 minutes for 1.75 miles.

took a nap yesterday instead of exercising, and it shows.

Came in at 149.4, though back up to 150.2 today (both measurements immediately after getting out of bed) after having what was probably too large a lunch yesterday. Still, that’s down roughly 9 pounds in a month and gets me in the ballpark of my target (147).

Exercises today included about 45 minutes of table tennis as well as my usual evening routine mentioned upthread (now up to 50 of each on that, right at 10 minutes); that apparently sums to a little over 300 calories.

Didn’t run yesterday, will be back at it tomorrow morning now that running partners are back.

Although I found out that the bike I’m on measures your speed kind of weird: 65 RPM on the highest resistance I went to (13 on a scale of 1-20) reported as about 15 mph; 85 RPM at the lowest resistance reported as about 10 mph. Maybe it’s doing it as a gear-ratio thing and assuming flat ground, rather than (as I expected) taking it as a hill (and thus lower distance).

In any case, I’m thinking I may switch up the routine from a straight ramp up in resistance and then ramp back down – do longer at moderate difficulty instead of ramping up to the point where I have a hard time keeping a reasonable pace, at least some of the time.

According to Nike+, each one is the equivalent of lifting a ton to the top of the Sears Tower (1000 Cal = 3M ft-lbs). So I earned that lentil soup last night.

1 week into dry+veggie Feb, I’m down 2 pounds.

Having shoe/foot issues (going to sleep around mile 3 and then waking up a few minutes later?)
Knees are holding up alright, but right calf is getting rolled out extra hard lately since it wants to lock up.
Times are staying at the 9 minute mile pace. Goal is a 90 minute 10 mile jaunt the week before the race.

I’m actually looking forward to the 2 full days of rest before my race (beginning of March) more than anything. 4 gym visits and 3 runs a week (one day off) is starting to feel excessive. As the date approaches I may start to drop my short run days. I generally do around a mile at the gym (run/jog laps in between lifting sets).

PRO-TIP: Don’t do 105 reps of at #185 deadlifts on a friday evening and then attempt a 6 mile run the next morning. You may finish, but it doesn’t bode well for the remainder of your day.

Going to try 7 miles on the bike tonight at more moderate resistance (ramp up from 1 to 10, back down to 7, back up to 10, then all the way back down to cool off).

Registration opens for the Broad Street 10 mile run opens at Wednesday 10:00 Eastern. I think it sold out in < 3 days last year so be ready to pull the trigger if you’re considering doing it. It’s a very easy course and a lot of fun. Race is May 6.

DON’T LET THIS DIE.