A little history first. I started weight lifting in high school, did a bodybuilding contest at age 18, placed 2nd. Continued lifting in college, stayed in great shape. Got my degree in dietetics (registered dietitian), continued lifting and eating right. Got married, moved to a small town with no gym close, couldn't do things the way I wanted so I let everything go to crap. I used to weigh about 190 with not much bodyfat. All I want to do now is sit on my fat butt, drink beer and bitch about being in such poor shape. I recently took up mountain biking but with the frigid weather its pretty much gone for now. I've also mtn. biked with others recently and realized what poor shape I'm in. 10 years ago I swore I'd never be in this situation but....here I am. So, I'm wanting suggestions, similar situations others have conquered that will give me some guidance. I've got the knowledge I just don't feel I'm in control of myself now. Like I said, I get irritated that I can't do things my way so I don't do anything. I'm self-destructing to a certain point and want to get things turned around. I currently weigh about 235 at 5'7". I'll post a couple of pics. I'm planning on going to the store a little later today so I can really get things going. Eating is not so much of the problem. Once I figure out a way to get some good workouts in the eating/motivation will take care of itself. There is a gym in the town where I work so that is an option to consider. So, lay it out for me. One more question, what is HIIT training? Thanks, Greg
My new journey begins, I need your help
- Thread starter GT2003
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I drove to Tahlequah today and checked out the gym I was talking about. A lot of space and all the equipment I need. Come to find out, some people we scuba dive with just bought it. I joined for a month to see how I like it. Just as I was getting ready to train, in walked a couple that I trained with 10-12 years ago when i was in really good shape. What a godsend. They are really great and its nice to know that there will be someone in the gym that I know. Anyway, I worked chest and tri's to get it going. Nothing too exhaustive, just basics, bench 4 sets of 8-10 reps, 135lbs, incline dumbell bench, 40lb dumbells, 4 sets of 10, tricep pushdowns, 4 sets 60lbs, about 10 reps each. I finished it off with 3 sets of dumbell, tricep extensions (grab a dumbell with both hands, extend arms straight above head, lower and raise the weight, not sure the proper name for them) using a 30 lb dumbbell. I spent 15 minutes on the recumbent bike then walked slowly (2.5mph) on the treadmill for 10 minutes or so. I'm planning on working out 3 days a week for now, Sunday, Monday and Thursday. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress and will post pics right around Christmas time. See ya, Greg
Second workout today, back and bi's, once again used enough weight to push myself a little but not too much that I'll be dying in a day or two. 4 sets lat pulldowns, 3 sets seated pulley rows and finished off back with 2 sets of dumbbell rows. 8 sets of bicep too, not too heavy though. 4 sets with a straight bar, 4 sets using the pulley machine with the curl bar. Rode the recumbant bike for 25 minutes. I've got a couple of days off now and will hit it again on Thursday. Weight has dropped 5 lbs already, water I'm sure.
On another note, I really like the gym I joined. A great environment that I think I'll thrive in. A lot of guys younger than me that are in really good shape. Gives me something to shoot for. Ran into a couple of more people I know. Everyone there seems serious and focused but still able to have a good time while training. Will keep you all posted. Thanks, Greg
On another note, I really like the gym I joined. A great environment that I think I'll thrive in. A lot of guys younger than me that are in really good shape. Gives me something to shoot for. Ran into a couple of more people I know. Everyone there seems serious and focused but still able to have a good time while training. Will keep you all posted. Thanks, Greg
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Eastern Oklahoma, Gore to be exact, by Lake Tenkiller. My folks still live in Tulsa and I've got a sister and brother-in-law that live near Guthrie (in Mulhall). I work for Sysco foods and have sales meetings every few months in Norman. I'll let you know when the next one is and maybe we can schedule a workout. I'm not so sure about flipping the tractor tire, lol.
Today's my day off and I've managed to eat pretty well. I expect I'll be down another couple of pounds by tomorrow. The weight always comes off easy at first so we'll see how the weight loss progress. I don't go back to the gym until Thursday. I'll post an update after that. Thanks and we'll see ya later, Greg
Today's my day off and I've managed to eat pretty well. I expect I'll be down another couple of pounds by tomorrow. The weight always comes off easy at first so we'll see how the weight loss progress. I don't go back to the gym until Thursday. I'll post an update after that. Thanks and we'll see ya later, Greg
Worked out legs yesterday. Squats 135x10-12, 3 sets, extensions 3 sets 10-12 reps, leg curls 3 sets 10-12 reps, seated calf raises 3 sets, 12-15 reps. Rode the bike for 25 minutes and cooled down on the treadmill for 10 minutes. A little sore today but not too bad. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Diet is still going good. Going out to eat tonight at a work function so I'm sure this will end up being my free day, lol. Weight down to 230 this morning. Next gym day is sunday for chest and tri's. Will report Sundays' weight as well as results of the workout then. See ya, Greg
Week 1 has been a tremendous success. Last Sunday morning I weighed 238.5lbs with tennis shoes and shorts on in the morning. This morning, even after my HUGE dinner (and drinks) Friday night, I weighed 228.5lbs. but I was just wearing a pair of shorts, no tennis shoes. So, I figure I've lost probably around 8 lbs this week. I snuck in an extra workout yesterday morning at the hotel. Basically 9 sets of shoulders (3 front, 3 side and 3 rear) then I rode the bike for almost 25 minutes and the treadmill for about 15 minutes. I don't expect to lose near as much this week, probably 4 lbs which is still quite a lot. I'm going to work chest and tri's this afternoon then ride the bike and treadmill for a while. Give me any ideas on what you think I might do different. Basically I'm training 3-4 days a week with 20-35 minutes of aerobic activity after each workout. The other days of the week I am just staying focused on my eating to make sure I keep it under control. Thanks, Greg
227.5lbs. this morning. Down another pound. Not really sure where I lost it but hey, it's all good. Worked chest and tri's yesterday. Went heavier and felt pretty good. Have lost some strength but that is to be expected since its been such a long time since I trained consistently. Rode the bike for 20 minutes or so then the treadmill for 10-15 minutes. All in all a good workout. Am going to work back and bi's today. Plan on riding the bike and treadmill for a total of about 35 minutes. Then I'll hit it again on Thursday. I'll update then. Thanks, Greg
Staying focused, It's coming together!
I worked back and bi's yesterday. 4 set T-bar rows, 3 wide grip pulldowns, 3 seated rows and finished up with 2 sets dumbbell rows. Went on to bi's with 4 sets standing straight bar curls, finished up with another 4 sets of medium grip curls using a curl bar (I did them on the pully machine, ?proper name). I rode the bike for 20 minutes and treadmill for 15. Diet is still going well. I'm actually up 1/2 pound this morning but I'm not losing sleep over 1/2 pound. My body is sore but I've got a couple of days off now so I'm going to take advantage of them and rest. I'm going to stick with 4 workouts per week now, working each bodypart once and working it HARD! I'll stick to cardio on all the days I'm in the gym. I've got just under 2 weeks before I post pics again so I guarantee you I'm staying focused. If anyone has input, let me know. I'm always looking for something new and exciting.
P.S. - I went to captain D's last week and they've got a lo-calorie salmon that they serve with rice, steamed broccoli and steamed mixed vegetables. 470 calories and I believe less than 10 grams of fat. Even when the choices look bad, stay focused. There are generally good choices to be made if you look. See you all in a few days. Take care, Greg
I worked back and bi's yesterday. 4 set T-bar rows, 3 wide grip pulldowns, 3 seated rows and finished up with 2 sets dumbbell rows. Went on to bi's with 4 sets standing straight bar curls, finished up with another 4 sets of medium grip curls using a curl bar (I did them on the pully machine, ?proper name). I rode the bike for 20 minutes and treadmill for 15. Diet is still going well. I'm actually up 1/2 pound this morning but I'm not losing sleep over 1/2 pound. My body is sore but I've got a couple of days off now so I'm going to take advantage of them and rest. I'm going to stick with 4 workouts per week now, working each bodypart once and working it HARD! I'll stick to cardio on all the days I'm in the gym. I've got just under 2 weeks before I post pics again so I guarantee you I'm staying focused. If anyone has input, let me know. I'm always looking for something new and exciting.
P.S. - I went to captain D's last week and they've got a lo-calorie salmon that they serve with rice, steamed broccoli and steamed mixed vegetables. 470 calories and I believe less than 10 grams of fat. Even when the choices look bad, stay focused. There are generally good choices to be made if you look. See you all in a few days. Take care, Greg
Wednesday morning, weight down to 227lbs. Clothes are loser. Legs are constantly sore, I'm assuming due to the stationary bike riding for 20 minutes or so at moderate to high intensity after each workout. Yesterday was a rest day and so is today. I expect the legs to have sufficient time to recuperate prior to their workout Thursday.
Diet is pretty steady. I'm not totally denying myself but I'm keeping pretty good tabs on it. If I want something that's not healthy, I eat a bite or two of it and go on. I keep the beef jerky steak nuggets in my truck. They have 70 calories per ounce with only 1 gram of fat. I only eat 3-4 pieces if I'm hungry and that gets me through to the next meal.
I'm progressing to heavier weights with my workouts. I went light for the 1st week to stretch things out and make sure I could still function a day or two later. I'm too damn old to go too heavy but I'm pushing myself to sets where I can only do right around 6 reps. If I get too carried away I'll end up pulling something or really hurting myself and I don't need that.
Thanks to whoever created this board. Its a great way to document my progress as well as get feedback from others. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions on what I might try next. Thanks, Greg
Diet is pretty steady. I'm not totally denying myself but I'm keeping pretty good tabs on it. If I want something that's not healthy, I eat a bite or two of it and go on. I keep the beef jerky steak nuggets in my truck. They have 70 calories per ounce with only 1 gram of fat. I only eat 3-4 pieces if I'm hungry and that gets me through to the next meal.
I'm progressing to heavier weights with my workouts. I went light for the 1st week to stretch things out and make sure I could still function a day or two later. I'm too damn old to go too heavy but I'm pushing myself to sets where I can only do right around 6 reps. If I get too carried away I'll end up pulling something or really hurting myself and I don't need that.
Thanks to whoever created this board. Its a great way to document my progress as well as get feedback from others. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions on what I might try next. Thanks, Greg
I'm thinking about doing shoulders and traps on the same day that I do legs. That would give me 3 workout days each week that would cover my entire body. But I kind of like the idea of keeping them seperate to give me another day in the gym with weights and another day of aerobic activity. My weekend might include a bike ride or something aerobic. So, I could then do legs/shoulders on one day and focus on something aerobic for the weekend. I'll experiment a little for now and follow up with what I decide. Thanks for the input and hit them legs hard. I'm increasing my weights this week, maybe 225 on squats, we'll see how it goes. I'll report tomorrow after my workout. See ya, Greg
125.5 lbs this morning, down 13 pounds total since a week ago Sunday. I'm eating healthy but making sure I eat 4-5 times per day. I've got a leg workout this afternoon. I plan on only going to 225lbs for squats at around 8-12 reps per set. I'll accompany that with 3-4 sets each of leg curls, leg extensions and calf raises. I may or may not throw in shoulders and traps. I'm leaning towards throwing them in so I can give my legs one more day of rest between now and Sunday. They are still a little sore from all the stationary bike riding I've been doing. After legs and shoulders it will be the stationary bike for 20-25 minutes then the treadmill for probably 10-15 minutes. I ate a bowl of cinnamon life for breakfast. I've got a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, an apple and some low fat wheat thins in the truck to eat throughout the day. I'm running into the problem of not really getting hungry. I've never experienced this before while losing weight but I'm making myself eat regularly so I don't jeopardize my metabolism. I ate a sandwich yesterday and was STUFFED! I'll post back tonight after the workout and let you know how it went, if I worked shoulders etc. I've got to stay focused today and tomorrow as I've got a holiday party Saturday night to attend. That'll be my free evening to eat what I want and really get my metabolism revved back up. See you all later, Greg
I shouldn't have said anything about not getting hungry. I was hungry all day today. I made good choices with everything I ate but man was I hungry. I got to the gym and worked legs and shoulders. Squats, 1 warm up set at 135 and 1 cool down at 135lbs. In between, I hit 3 sets at 225lbs for 8 reps. I went on to do 4 sets of leg extensions, 4 sets leg curls and 4 sets seated calf raises. I decided to go ahead and do shoulders which are a tempermental bodypart for me. If I get carried away or go too heavy they start hurting, popping etc and interfere with my other exercises. So I did 4 sets machine military presses, 3 sets side raises and 3 sets bent over raises. I went on to do 4 sets of dumbbell shrugs. Finished up with 20 minutes on the bike and 10 on the treadmill. My legs are still TIRED. They were finally recovering from the bike riding and then I hammered them pretty good today. I worked shoulders today so I can have another rest day before I work out Sunday. I will eventually increase to 4 days per week but I've got to build up a little endurance 1st. I've got a work party to go to Saturday so that's going to be my free evening. I'm still extremely focused and am actually over one quarter of the way to my weight goal. I'm off to take a shower and get in bed. Take care and I'll post later.
Still 225.5lbs this morning (not 125.5 like I stated a day or two ago, sorry). I had a meeting today so I left the house before breakfast. They had all sorts of CRAP for breakfast. I ended up eating a poached egg, some mixed fruit (frozen, tasted nasty, blah), 2 or 3 pieces bacon, don't remember for sure and a 2-3 ounce slice of grilled ham and probably 3/4 cup orange juice. The meeting lasted all morning and I didn't get hungry. For lunch, we tried a new hamburger patty they want us to sell. Not too bad. I had a hamburger with bun and a handful of fries for lunch. About an hour after lunch I ate another 1/2 hamburger patty, no bun this time. I came home and fixed steak and baked potatoes. I was going to have a salad before dinner but I guess someone ate the iceberg/romaine mix this afternoon. I couldn't find it anywhere. I ate some low fat wheat thins before dinner so I passed on the baked potato and just ate my steak, probably about 6 ounces after it was cooked. Despite the deplorable foods I had around today I didn't eat large quantities of anything. I've got the work party tomorrow night so I'm keeping focused until then. It's going to be my free night, mostly alcohol I'm sure, not really too much food. We'll see. I'll post either Sunday morning or night depending on how things go that day. Talk to y'all later, Greg
I really enjoyed my free night last night. I went out to eat with my folks and my step brother. I had a filet mignon as well as some crab legs. I had a beer and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, dinner lasted over 2 hours so really not a lot to drink. Went to my friends Christmas party, didn't get there until almost 11pm. Drank 4 beers over about 2 hours, ate a few chips, some chicken wings and some kind of biscuits that had little pieces of sausage in them. Must have really kicked up my metabolism because I am starving this morning. I haven't eaten anything yet but I'm planning on having a sandwich about 1-2 hours before I go to the gym. Today is chest and tri's then bicycle and treadmill. I was just sitting here reading through other logs and realized my legs are actually recovered from all the stationary biking I've been doing. I'll hit my workouts hard today and tomorrow. Depending on how my legs feel, I may add shoulders and traps as a seperate workout instead of doing them with legs. I'll have to see how I feel later in the week. If my legs end up feeling super tired then I'll stick shoulders and traps with legs again so I can give them another full day off. I didn't weigh this morning since I was not at home. I'm sure I gained some yesterday but most likely its water and will be gone by the time I weigh tomorrow. I'd like to be 220 by Christmas so we'll see if I can make it happen. Talk to y'all this evening. Greg
Boy, I felt like hell today. I guess it was all the food and drink yesterday. I don't know how I ever used to sit around and drink beer all the time but I did it. I didn't even want to go train but I made myself. I worked chest and tri's, biked for 20 minutes and walked on the treadmill for 18 minutes. I'll weigh in the morning but the important part is I'm back on track after my day off. I always feel better after I get a good sweat going after about 10 minutes on the bike. It makes me feel like I'm really doing something. I'm working back and bi's tomorrow with some more bike and treadmill. I'll post tomorrow night and update. See ya, Greg
Weight 228 this morning. Maybe a little bit is true weight but I'm sure some is still water from the weekend. I felt much better today. I trained back and bi's. Workout went well. I pushed myself pretty hard. I'm focusing on thoroughly blasting each bodypart since I'm giving them an entire week to recover. I rode the bike for 22 minutes and the treadmill for 15. Legs are feeling better after the bike rides so in the next week or so I may split out legs into one workout and traps into another while doing bike/treadmill after each. Diet continues to go well. I'm just not that tempted to eat bad stuff. I guess after 5 years of eating whatever I want did it for me. I do have to watch portions in the evenings. I tend to get a little carried away if I don't watch it. Hope everyone is doing well. I'll post again soon. Thanks, Greg