Lifestyle physical health/fitness thread



total = 32,198 ft
Everest = 29,029ft

and I've done it with nearly 2 weeks to spare on my original target. If anybody wants a no-bullshit true fitness challenge that will completely change you in terms of both aesthetics and performance, here it is; run the height of Everest in a month~.

(as an aside, I also cycled over 300 miles and 16,000ft of elevation and rattled out some 400lb deadlifts during that time period. December was fun)

pics and shit to follow maybe
Great work! Best you must be stoked about what you achieved? Hell, thats a massive effort!

By the way, i'm looking for a fitness tracker -- that will work for running, cycling but also gym effort (so i guess calories burned?). Knuckling down with everything and I want to get a better view of what is actually getting burnt so I can work out my eating a little better. Any pointers? Doesn't have to have GPS as I am ok with using my phone as it will have my music i listen to on it.
 
Update:

I am starting my bulk today and right now I am at 183.5cm (6' 1/4), and weigh 74kg with about 16.7% Bodyfat (at least that is what the scale tells me). My diet plan is right now:
Meal 1: 80g oats, 33g Whey protein powder, 32g peanut butter
Meal 2: 80g oats, 141?g canned chicken, 32g peanut butter
Meal 3: 80g oats, 141?g canned tuna, 32g peanut butter
Meal 4: 33g Protein powder, 32g peanut butter
Meal 5: 33g Protein powder, 32g peanut butter
Meal 6: 80g Lowfat Cottage Cheese

I am also taking a multivitamin, 2 caps of fish oil, melatonin, and I am going to be loading creatine. My aim is to drink a lot of water about a gallon of water. I may try to vary my carb sources because I am already getting sick of oats, like add some sweet potatoes/yams in. I also want to add some type of veggie in like Broccoli or asparagus. I tried to come up with the cheapest most effective bodybuilding diet around 200$ a month. I am going to start with about 15 minutes of cardio in the morning and do my weights in the evening or vice versa. I am going to focus on compound movements and will try to get to the gym everyday. My goal is get up to 84kg by July 1st. I have saw in the first 3-4 months beginners can gain 5-6kg pounds of lean body mass and that is without creatine. With creatine it could be even more (mostly water weight though).
 
Lee Stallion

I am about to go on my first ever cut. Currently 13 stone 4, or 186 lbs, 6 ft 1 about 15% bf. Just looking for advice from people who have been and done it. Any articles you can personally suggest me to read? What kind of macros should I hit to get ripped. Is variety important because I have no problem eating the same thing over and over if its better. Is it realistic to hope for less than 10% by end of may? Any kind of point in the right direction from anyone would be appreciated, all I know is building strength getting cut is completely new.
 

Stallion

Tree Young
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Lee Stallion

I am about to go on my first ever cut. Currently 13 stone 4, or 186 lbs, 6 ft 1 about 15% bf. Just looking for advice from people who have been and done it. Any articles you can personally suggest me to read? What kind of macros should I hit to get ripped. Is variety important because I have no problem eating the same thing over and over if its better. Is it realistic to hope for less than 10% by end of may? Any kind of point in the right direction from anyone would be appreciated, all I know is building strength getting cut is completely new.
10% is easy for you by the end of May at your current bf%.

There are some foods that are just superior to others with their macro and nutritional makeup. Most people get bored eating the same thing again and again, but if you can handle it then power to you.

The most important thing is that you keep your protein up (aim for 1 gram per pound of body weight). Fats and carbs can be varied based on what your body prefers as a fuel source, as long as you're in a deficit the whole time.

Google TDEE calculator to get a rough approximation of your macros.

@ thread goers, as for my own situation, I've been on holidsy for a week and a half so while I've been active (beach + went for a solitary fitness circuit), I haven't lifted weights or paid much attention to diet this whole time and it's driving me crazy!
 
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Lee

@ Thick Club
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I think bodybuilding companies and magazines like to overcomplicate 'cutting' in order to push their products and it leads to the process becoming unnecessarily daunting. At the risk of going down the opposite route and oversimplifying things, it's just a matter of lowering your net calories while keeping your primary lifts as close to their current standard as possible. Throw in some HIIT work too if you're not already doing some - most gyms operate classes so just jump in on a boxercise class or do some hill-sprints in your own time. And what Stallion said about macros.

As a more maverick suggestion - consider giving up refined/added sugar. I gave that shit up between Halloween and Christmas Day and my body fat went waaay down. Felt better too. Am eating it again now because it's just too goddamn irresistible but a short-term detox is worth consideration.
 
Okay boys Lee Stallion here is a more important question. I am and avid drinker of tea and i love a good custard cream to go with it. Do you know any healthy alternatives that would go nicely with a cup of tea i am struggling really bad right now
 
Is this the bodybuilding thread now? I don't know where to post this but I'm looking for people who have experience with injuries.

Most of yesterday I've been carrying around heavy stuff (not a normal thing) and my back got stiff. Normal so far, but last night in the middle of the night I made a stretching motion and felt a shot of pain in my lower back, not like a cramp, in fact not like anything I'd felt before. It was a momentary shot of pain and then it never hurt again, but the area feels a little stiff and a little weak. Well actually maybe it does hurt a little. But it's very minor.

I'm worried I might have a minor tear or something, and it might get worse if I'm not careful or something. (I'm gonna spend a week doing more of the same soon.) Is there any way to make sure? It might take time until I get a doctor to see it.

btw the exact point of injury is around the 20-12 range in this picture. The pain was very specific. Like, it felt like a very specific tendon / muscle was involved. Fuck I'm paranoid.
 
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Stallion

Tree Young
is a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
Okay boys Lee Stallion here is a more important question. I am and avid drinker of tea and i love a good custard cream to go with it. Do you know any healthy alternatives that would go nicely with a cup of tea i am struggling really bad right now
I'm Australian so I'm used to drinking my tea black. If that's not sweet enough for you though, try adding Stevia to it. It's a calorie free sweetener without the bad rep that Aspartame and co have
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
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I guess you can try oatcakes as a low-calorie, low-sugar alternative.Or you can just have nothing and enjoy your crumb-free cuppa???
 
Okay boys Lee Stallion here is a more important question. I am and avid drinker of tea and i love a good custard cream to go with it. Do you know any healthy alternatives that would go nicely with a cup of tea i am struggling really bad right now
I've traditionally been a big coffee drinker and love biscuits -- i've been known to smash down a whole tray of Arnotts creams (minus the Monte Carlo's). Nowadays i've pretty much cut back. I'm going through a phase with greek yoghurt, home made granola and berries, mostly. There are plenty of healthy biscuit recipe's out there -- google Pete evens, Dan churchill -- I often use some of their 'paleo' biscuit recipes as they often use healthier fats and sugar substitutes. Quite nice too, tbh.

Alternatively -- don't write off chocolate. If you can get a block of lindt 95% it has a really low sugar content (although is very bitter). I have pre-made snack packs.. A small plastic container with walnuts, almonds and macadamia's with one small square of it as a 'treat'.

Most of yesterday I've been carrying around heavy stuff (not a normal thing) and my back got stiff. Normal so far, but last night in the middle of the night I made a stretching motion and felt a shot of pain in my lower back, not like a cramp, in fact not like anything I'd felt before. It was a momentary shot of pain and then it never hurt again, but the area feels a little stiff and a little weak. Well actually maybe it does hurt a little. But it's very minor.

I'm worried I might have a minor tear or something, and it might get worse if I'm not careful or something. (I'm gonna spend a week doing more of the same soon.) Is there any way to make sure? It might take time until I get a doctor to see it.
It is likely just a twinge or something -- if you are concerned -- see a doc. If not, just do some stretching and dont aggrevate it. I did something similar with my neck after sleeping odd one night and all week if felt 'locked/jarred'

I've been pretty silent here over the past few weeks -- been lazy as anything. Tore some of the fibres in a ligament in my hand, painful AF. Don't wish it on anyone. As it wasn't torn from the hand or other muscles there wasn't anything to do but wait for it to heal. 3 weeks later it feels great! So back in to it all tomorrow

Question for the regulars here, does anyone use a fitbit? I'm looking at upgrading from my Garmin as it is too painful to sync up to phone apps etc. Assuming the fitbit is easier? The only concern I have is that given where it needs to sit on the wrist, that it may interfere with using kettlebells?
 

Stallion

Tree Young
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So before 3 weeks ago, I hadn't touched squats or deads in over a year due to hip issues. After just 3 weeks of doing them, I've gotten up to 255 pounds on squats for working sets and 315 pounds on deadlifts for working sets. Considering my chest strength, overall size and lifting experience, thats pretty much nothing I know, but I'm still excited considering these are essentially new lifts to me again. End of year goals are 440 lb deads and 400 lb squats, even if its a 1rm rather than working sets.

How's everyone else going with their fitness journeys?
 

antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
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Going well overall will defo reach my target at this rate. Just need to resist the temptations all around me doesnt help when your mother is a sensational baker of desserts.
Oh I know this painful reality. Most of the people I live with are frequent bakers and like to experiment with different confections and it's a difficult temptation to resist at times. I've trained myself to not have sweets on certain days/after certain times as a method of limiting them so that I will eventually be weaned completely off of them and I think that's the best way.
 
Going well overall will defo reach my target at this rate. Just need to resist the temptations all around me doesnt help when your mother is a sensational baker of desserts.
Nothings worse then when you have to cut weight for wrestling or anything for that matter and theres food all around you :( chewing gum can help at times! also just thinking about your goal and why youre doing this can motivate you to stay away from the deliciousness, good luck mang :]
 

Exeggutor

twist
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
i've lost ~6kg in the past month just by eating less and not drinking juice, i'm fucking stoked

got a bike for my birthday and i've been trying to learn to ride that
i'm aiming to lose about 20kg to get to a healthy weight, but we'll see how that goes
 
Just bumpin...


May has arrived target day is in about 3 weeks, trying intermittent fasting starting wednesday.

Almost 4 good visible abs, cant wait to start training for strength again though.
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Have entered an off-road ultra-marathon (50km) in September so most of my training focus is on that at the moment. Building up mileage while not sacrificing speed work is the current challenge. I've also moved to Cardiff so hmu welsh smogonites and explain to me how I am supposed to speak a language that barely uses vowels...
 

Raven

Esto es el fin.
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I've recently dropped a serious amount of body fat and gained a considerable amount of muscle (for 6 weeks work) so I thought I'd post what I did here in case anyone else is trying to do what I did (i.e. fight over-eating and improve both my health and aesthetic appearance)

After my summer internship, 10 weeks of drinking every single night / absent mindedly eating probably 4000+ calories a day, I had been left incredibly out of shape (to the point at which my otherwise irrelevant congenital heart defect actually started to cause respiratory issues due to the high blood pressure). My eating sort of improved when term started once more, but I kept up the heavy drinking until early January so I was still seriously overweight. Cooling off on the alcohol saw some mild improvements between January and March, but not really enough, so whilst writing my dissertation I decided to tackle my eating problem at its root, and have had some incredible results over the past 6 weeks!

My main issues were:
Seriously poor portion control
Binge Eating / Snacking
Generally poor diet
No exercise
Cravings for chocolate, cake etc whenever I tried improving my diet.

On top of this, being on campus all day severely limited my access to satisfying, healthy food (more like 4 sausages 4 hash browns and beans for breakfast) and I didn't have a huge amount of time for meal prep.

I appreciate that for many of you, things like portion control may seem incredibly obvious, but trust me - for someone that has spent a lifetime overeating, it's incredibly difficult to fix that mindset. You also don't realise the other ways in which it affects your life (concentration / attainment, depression) until you see positive changes in your own life.

I attempted to solve these issues by using a food-substitute product called Queal. It's somewhat like Soylent, but it's produced in the EU to our nutritional standards, is somewhat less synthetic and from the reviews I've seen, tastes a hell of a lot better. I also went iron-willpower on myself and didn't buy any unhealthy snacks. The only snacks I had available were: Kiwi fruit, tomatoes, cucumber and small pieces of lean roast beef.



I'm a serious foodie, so the prospect of replacing most of my meals with a slightly more pleasant protein shake wasn't particularly pleasant, but I figured since what I was eating on campus was total trash anyway (chips, chocolate and crisps) I didn't have much to lose by trying it. It's also worth noting that I would still eat normally if I was going to a restaurant with friends - since my hunger response was dulled over time, it was easier to just hold off on a meal earlier in the day or fill up on cucumber and tomato to compensate for increased calories at dinner.

Queal is made from: Whey protein, Oat flour, Maltodextrin (from cornstarch), Soy Flour and Flaxseed oil (+ the vitamin and mineral profile), so consuming it didn't feel too unnatural. It's somewhat like one of those "cereal drinks", though the texture is massively improved by overnight refrigeration.

A beaker of reconstituted Queal is 700 kcal, which allows for easy calorie control when it comes to portion sizing. Furthermore, it's incredibly filling, and by sipping it gradually over the course of several hours, I found my general hunger response had been significantly dulled. I also felt more energised and able to focus (probably due to the fact I wasn't having constant glucose spikes any more) and was actually more motivated to start exercising.

On top of this, the chocolate flavour tastes like nesquick and the forest fruit flavour tastes like a victoria sponge cake milkshake, so most of my cravings went away, which made this much easier to stick to.

I would still have one normal meal in the morning before I headed to campus, usually some kind of Asian style vegetable stew with noodles / a small sweet potato and a small amount of lean meat, since I had easy access to a kitchen without disrupting my work. My current breakfast is lentils and vegetables with French-North African flavours and a small chilli and ginger chicken breast.

My week learning to windsurf prior to starting this diet had forced me to build a level of muscle mass, so I rolled with 3x4x10 upper body super-sets (5kg dumbbells since that's all I had) as soon as I woke up and right before I went to bed, eventually working in 50 goblet squats. Due to the fact my body was burning fat the whole time, I actually managed to bulk up considerably, and my arms now stretch the sleeves on a UK Medium T-shirt :D (Sadly this has come about during exam season so I can't use this newly acquired body confidence to pick up girls in clubs :( )

Over the course of the month of April, I dropped 3 inches from my hips (waist isn't a useful measurement for me since I didn't take any photos or measurements, I'm just going by old clothes I can once more fit into) and a shirt which previously was stretched close to bursting point now fits perfectly. Additionally, I can fit back into the rather expensive Jaeger suit I had bought a while before my internship, which makes me incredibly happy.

The fact that I was no longer distracted by hunger also meant that I was able to put in highly productive 14 hour days when writing my dissertation, and I'm ecstatic with the grade I achieved (76, in a subject that effectively marks up to 80)

Now that I'm not constantly occupied by a task as absorbing as my dissertation, this is admittedly more difficult to stick to. I'll probably post in the future about how I transition to a more normal lifestyle pattern, though since I'll be working in banking technology over the summer, this current model may well be feasible until I start my Master's degree.
 

Skitty

i dont care if i ever come down♪
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hi guys, anyone have any experience with planet fitness? I'm getting a membership tomorrow & starting my fitness journey, I love them cuz they're open 24 hours and I'm a late night/early morning person.
 

vonFiedler

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hi guys, anyone have any experience with planet fitness? I'm getting a membership tomorrow & starting my fitness journey, I love them cuz they're open 24 hours and I'm a late night/early morning person.
I'm probably not the best person to comment, but I did used to have a Planet Fitness membership. They are pretty fine. The equipment was good, I thought things like the 30 minute workout rotation rooms were neat, and the "spa" was a nice bonus.

But I don't think they really benefit from their "no judgement" outlook. I've never been treated with anything but kindness at a gym, but I'd damn well like to have scales available and people who can measure my progress.
 

Asek

Banned deucer.
No experience w. US gym chains but quite frequently you can find it cheaper to find a membership to a small locally run gym in your locale. I know over here gym fees for chains are a fair bit higher because of the fact that it allows entrance to others gyms in the chain / cheaper entry if they are franchises. It usually works out cheaper to find a little local gym that isnt too flashy (in fact one i'm considering is barebones) but they have everything you need to really do a workout. I'm not a machines guy so I don't mind if the machines are a bit wonky, you can make a fine exercice program using just barbell , dumbells and yourself. Also these gyms are a fair bit quieter - you can really get into your workout without being disturbed, but the people who are there will usually spot for you if there is indeed someone there (i dislike working out at rediculous hours for this reason - if i fail a set and god forbid get in a tight spot i want someone there to help me out)

I know the poster said they were getting the membership tomorrow but if this causes you to reevaluate and I save you a bit of $$$ I'd be pretty happy. Also if your on campus check your uni's gym out! My university gym is really good bang for your buck, I used it this semester but I'm not going to afterwards due to travel complications


S.O to my aussie boys who are heading into bulk season, I'm hopin to put on a fair few KG's but we'll see if I can pull myself together and actually work towards it.
 
hi guys, anyone have any experience with planet fitness? I'm getting a membership tomorrow & starting my fitness journey, I love them cuz they're open 24 hours and I'm a late night/early morning person.
Every Planet Fitness I've seen has not had any free weights, which depending on your goals could be a massive dealbreaker.

Guys I have a problem right now. I have a ton of free time this summer, so I want to focus a lot on my fitness. My initial plan was alternating couch to 5k and Starting Strength-style workouts with one complete rest day each week. I stuck with running every other day on that program for 2 weeks, then I got a gym membership in my hometown (just moved back from school) after taking about a 2 week break from lifting and tried to warm up to do squats with the bar. However, when I did this I got this ache in my knees that felt like my joints were creaky / aching, so I figured something was wrong and I stopped my workout and took a week off of everything. I don't think the problem is my squat form; I've been squatting on and off for a couple of years and have never really had any major problems and am at about a 195 lb Squat after getting back into weightlifting for about a month, and this pain never started happening until I started running this time (though oddly this has never happened before when I did C25k two summers ago on the same routes at the same speed with the same shoes). I then tried running again yesterday and tried stretching more than I usually do first and using a new better pair of running shoes that I bought, but after just a mile or so at a fairly slow pace I started getting this knee pain again. I've also been getting this pain randomly at other times when I'm not exercising as well. It's not ridiculously painful or anything but I definitely can tell something wrong.

So my question is: What can I do in the meantime and how long should I wait to try running / squatting again without hurting my knee? This is super frustrating, as I don't really know what to do with all this time I have at the moment. My current goal is more fat loss oriented. I'm working on my diet and slowly making progress there, but I was thinking I could still go to the gym for upper body stuff at least and maybe just do some brisk walking a couple times a week on off days maybe? Just kind of at a loss here of how to proceed, as most of these beginner programs don't really account for injuries and I'd still like to make some sort of progress while I have the time.
 

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