Stepstone's intro

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stepstone

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It's my first day on this forum so I haven't spent any time lurking, though this site rose to the top in my search (and I was looking for a total health site as opposed to a bodybuilding site or one focused more on dieting/weight loss). The opportunity to have a journal here is interesting and I look forward to journaling.

Long story short... For the first time in my life, I fell out of good condition about three years ago when my weight peaked at 203lbs (height of 5'-8"). I'm very much back in excellent shape now after taking 2.5 years to gradually get my health back under control, loosing 43lbs in the process. I'm very committed to never letting this happen again.

I live in an area of Montreal that is ideal for fitness enthusiasts -- very close to the Olympic Parc.

The reason that I've joined this site is to begin to refine my fitness practices which are in general quite good, in my view -- yet I've hit some walls which I would like to break through.

I want to be fit because I enjoy life more this way and because it's the best way to maximize my chances of living a happy and long life. But most of all, I simply enjoy the feeling of being healthy, especially when I feel that I'm carrying around a solid body--knowing that I could engage in almost any physical exercises or activity without any troubles--but further, that I could hold my own in practically any sport that I focused on for a while.

In the past, I was caught in the common "weights" vs. "cardio" model. I've been through periods when I focused more on one or the other, or tried to combine them for a balanced approach. But I've realized that I don't care about bodybuilding per se and that I'm not so interested in dieting/loosing weight either, at least not any more. For the weights part, it's simple: I could never go very long doing hard weight-training without experiencing an injury.

To get in shape, I now focus mostly on body-weight exercises and moderate cardio. I have shifted to eating every three hours, trying to have protein in each small meal. I weigh in each day and record my weight in my recorder -- as admittedly I'm concerned about staying within range (160-165). I have something of a training "philosophy" which I will mention in my journal later on. I keep information about my fitness in my mind-map. I will admit that I still get injuries...

My current challenges are to refine my diet and my routine. I also have a lack of energy problem to deal with. And I have noticed lately that when I try to increase the intensity of my training, as I recently tried doing longer periods of mixed and semi-rigorous cardio, in one week doing hill biking, ultimate frisbee, roller blading, jump rope etc in one week. A whole week later my body began to feel the toll of this. (It can really take this long to feel it?) So, this past week, I've been taking it more easy and now I'm gearing up to move my fitness efforts forward.
 
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Hi stepstone!

So glad you have decided to take this journey! I'll definitely be following along as you get better and better.

As far as your energy issue goes, it sound like you are depleting your glycogen stores. After you workout you need to "refuel" your body. Here's a good combo to try: 4:1 carb to protein ratio.

I would also try to stay off that scale. The real tale is told in inches not pounds. Just a small piece of advice.

Good Luck! Talk Soon

Sean
 
Thanks Sean. I really appreciate the feedback. I definitely need to study up on my nutrition and begin to gauge my eating habits more closely to my exercise rhythm. As far as the scale goes, the reality is that being fat in the gut runs very strongly in the males in my family, and I was headed directly there about 3 years ago, and now I'm pre-occupied with never allowing this to happen to me again. The cost is this ritual I have each morning of weighing myself. I'm sure that I have what I call an "explosive weight gain" capacity. If I don't watch it very closely, I will gain weight. At least this is my mind set. I'm sure though that if I were able to nail my eating habits and stick to a consistent eating pattern, I could forget about weighing myself all together.

I posted again today on an exercise technique that I'm trying to break my lifting records, so I'm not sure you will catch this. Maybe I should keep all of my posts in one thread.

Thanks again.
 
Nutrition is 80% of the game! Definitely worth the time to read up. It all really boils down to 5 small meals a day, lean protein in each, lots of veggies (half your plate) and small amounts of good complex carbs. Toss out all the packaged, processed crap, toss the junk and you're good to go. Also a food journal helps too.

Weighing yourself everyday can be a dangerous game to play for some people but if it helps you stay on track then by all means. If you have been fit most of your life then you will be ok. Your body has a pretty good memory ;)

What kind of program are you on? Do you like cardio over weight training?
 
My basic aim is to prepare for long-term fitness and to establish such an ingrained set of practices that my chance of sliding backwards approaches ZERO. Then I want to die very fast somehow... when I'm past say 100 years. :)

I believe in the notion that too much cardio 'wastes' hard won muscle, that muscle increases metabolic rate so we burn more when resting, and that muscle helps us as we get older, and that it's possible to reverse the process of losing 1 lb of muscle each year after we hit 40 or so. So, while I want to improve my cardio performance and reduce my resting heart rate with regular cardio, I'm more focused on building muscle.

I'm pretty much doing the 5 meals per day and the mix is healthy yet I need to improve this and get better at preparing my food in advance and with finding more options for protein.

My actual program involves a set of weight-bearing exercises (mostly body-weight but also using a #25 dumbbell. I simply try to increase my capacities with each movement. I've been focusing on stabilization as well as though I were training to become a gymnast. I enjoy throwing in biking, rollar-blading, jogging, jump rope, Ultimate Frisbee, tennis, swimming, skating, throwing ball, etc. etc. and I want to increase the number of "physical" sports that I'm able to perform well with.

I am trying a new method with my weight-bearing moves (which actually mostly target my chest and shoulders) by doing very abbreviated training as opposed to knocking out may series and reps. I'll know in the next few weeks if this works. I have a strong feeling that it will.

I am also focusing on cycling more and allowing full recovery before I redo a move. I'm also beginning to squat train again. (I heard this will help muscle development of my entire body).

I'm prone to injury so my priority is to adjust slowly to all things.

I'm also slowly trying to master jump rope. I have lots of room for improvement here and I see that as an avenue to do interval training. (Though I now believe that Ultimate Frisbee can serve as a good and FUN interval training method...)

Thanks for your feedback. I accept the 80% nutrition advice and I plan to focus on this.
 
Too funny! I want to go the same way!!!

I think building muscle is extremely important in the long term view. Stronger muscles = stronger bones! Having a strong heart is definitely important but having an overall strong body is up there on the list too.

You have a lot on your plate by way of training. How do you keep track of it all lol! You seem to be very dedicated in your quest which is awesome. You know as well as I do that this is a lifetime commitment. If you are prone to injury then definitely take your time.

I personally do P90X, Insanity and just recently started RevAbs. I like these programs because they take all the thinking out of the equation. I love digging deeper into the world of fitness but when it comes to my own, I like to keep things as simple as possible!

I don't think I've ever gotten into jumping rope. Although I do know it's very intense. Ultimate Frisbee sounds cool too! Just might have to try it.

Talk soon.
 
I'll check into P90X and RevAbs.

I'm away from my home for a few days... This always throws off my diet and training focus. On the positive side, it gives me a chance to reflect on my training program.

I now believe that I should search for a trainer in my local area and commit to working out a program with him/her. Maybe I'm simply not stretching enough but just in the past week I have recurring minor injury to my lower back and Achilles, and I'm quite sure it's from beginning squat training and getting back to rope jumping. So, I know a PT who specializes in sports PT... though I suspect it will be too costly.

I'm now convinced that I need to work on my diet a great deal. The minor part is what to eat and when. The major part is provisioning the food for myself. For the later, I will need to learn to take one day per week to both go shopping and to prepare enough food to last the entire week. I know it sounds simple but it's a big challenge. Especially given that I enjoy preparing food and tend to take more time with it. So, it's just a new habit I need to focus on.

I think that I will eventually need to begin tracking everything I do (exercises & food).

I've realized that one of my goals is to be in such good overall condition that I can take up sports quickly and perform well. So yeah, I want to frame my training around being more competitive in the sports I can already play, and to be able to learn and compete in new sports relatively quickly.

I also feel that I have started off too fast with this journal and that I should discontinue it and begin with a new account and be more careful with what & how I post.

I also learned that the bodybuilding.com site has lots of good information. It's more of an in-your-face type site, cut through the baloney. I'm not saying that I shifting there but I'm must unsure which site is best to journal on.
 
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