Stop being a little bitch

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

Welp, I'm 2-months into my fitness journey. I've lost 26lbs. My goal is to get down to 10% body fat. I've gained a lot of strength in the last month from lifting weights. I can tell that my muscles are getting a little bigger and my body is much more toned.

I've done a lot of reading on building muscle and I'm practicing "progressive overload. Each workout, I add more weight to the bar/machine or add reps. Thus far I've gotten stronger each week. I should be able to put on 10-15 lbs. of lean body mass (muscle) in one year. Or so they say.


PS - I'm still eating very healthy. I'll cheat a little...about one day per week. Otherwise, I stick to the program. This is actually starting to get easier and is enjoyable.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

My getting healthy journey continues to evolve. I'm not saying what I'm doing is right or wrong. But this is what I think is best for me. I'm not recommending it for anyone else.

I'm still going to the gym 3 days a week. I'm still running 2 miles every day.

So, what's new? Well, I've given up beef. No more red meat al all. I've switched over to Walmart's Beyond Burger and their sausage patties are good, too. I bought the veggie chicken nuggets but haven't tried them yet.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

It's quickly approaching the 3-month mark on my fitness journey. It's been incredibly rewarding to track my progress. I recently took 3-days off from running just to let my body get some rest. It made a huge difference. Especially in the leg that I injured at the gym. I ran yesterday and today after taking that break and I'm actually faster because of the rest.

As far as lifting weights? I'm locked in on my routine:

Chest:
-Bench Press
-ISO Incline Press
-Delt Fly

Back:
-Lat Pulldowns
-Seated Cable Rows
-Rear Delt Fly

Legs:
-Hack Squat
-Leg Press
-Leg Extension


I try to stick to compound movements and avoid isolation lifts.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

I ran a mile in 10-minutes today. Making progress. Still a ways to go.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

At the 3 month mark, I'd say that most of the unbridled ambition that I started with is mostly gone. Don't take that wrong. In no way will I stop or slow down. It's just that it's become more like work as the new has worn off...so to speak.


I find that eating healthy takes up a lot of my time. There's really no fast food places that I can eat. Most of my meals have to be prepared beforehand. It's just something else that I have to do. Also, running and going to the gym takes up a lof of my time. I usually run in the morning and workout in the evening. At the moment I'm working on putting together a sales team and it's hard to find enough time in the day.

But as the title of the thread says: I need to stop being a little bitch and suck it up. It's 5:22 a.m. and as soon is the sun starts coming up, I'll be out running 2-miles.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

I decided to take a week of from lifting and running. I've been going nonstop pretty much since Jan. 1.

I just feel like I need to let my body fully recover. Hopefully, it's the right decison.

[Hansoon]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

My physiotherapist is always telling me to NOT do everyday training but always leave an inactive day in between, so the body can recover or has time to adapt to the new situation.

I gratefully follow his advice.........

Hans

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

My physiotherapist is always telling me to NOT do everyday training but always leave an inactive day in between, so the body can recover or has time to adapt to the new situation.

I gratefully follow his advice.........

Hans

I've taken a day off here and there but I do progressive overload at the gym. If you're not familiar with what that is....it basically means adding weight every week to my sets as to where I can only do about 10-12 reps before failure. That's all fine but after a while, I found myself lifting so much weight that it was causing my tendons to hurt. Add running 2 miles every day and I just felt that I needed to stop everything for about a week to let my body fully recover.

[slimslob]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

What I have always been told is to only run run 3 days a week alternating with aerobics 3 days and 1 day a week of resting. With weight training never do the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. Also mix in toning exercises where you do high repetitions at low weights. again 2 day of rest.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

My break officially ended yesterday as I ran 2-miles. I've been running the same 2-miles for a while now and it's gotten pretty easy. So, today I pushed it about as hard I was capable and ran 3-miles. I don't think I could have made it much further even if I had a gun to my head. That was fucking exhausting. Now I have to do it every day until it becomes routine. All of this shit involves pain and suffering but it's worth it.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

I want to give a quick update as maybe this will help someone down the line. Recently, I took a week off from running and lifting to let my body recover. I did feel much better but it didn't last long. One of the nagging injuries that I had was a abductor muscle injury. That's a groin injury. Or the upper, inner thigh muscle. I've never had this injury before and wasn't sure what was causing it. Was it from lifting weights? Or was it from running? Whatever the case, it was quite painful when I'd run...especially at the begging of the run.

I started doing some research to try to understand what was going on. I have been a runner (off and on) for most of my adult life. However, as we get older our bodies change. From my research, I think what's going on is that my running form was the problem. When I run, I tend to run on the same plane. In other words, if I draw a line on the ground, both feet are running on that line. That's problematic because it's putting a strain on my abductor muscles. I think I have only a grade 1 strain which should take about 3-weeks to heal.

So, I'm shutting it down for 3-weeks. I hate it but I must be smart.

I changed one other thing. I've incorporated a rigorous stretching regimen. This is no joke. It's a lot of work and it wears me out and there's pain invovled. However, I do feel better afterwards.

[avecosat]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

A very important thing for running is the shoe, you have to choose one that is suitable for your way of running, your weight and the type of training you do. I had knee pain when running and I solved it by changing shoes

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

A very important thing for running is the shoe, you have to choose one that is suitable for your way of running, your weight and the type of training you do. I had knee pain when running and I solved it by changing shoes

I have the shoe thing covered. I have several pair of Brooks running shoes. And they were fitted for my feet. I used to run in Asics shoes but I like Brooks best. But that's good advice. Thanks.

[avecosat]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

I used Adidas and I have also switched to Brooks Adrenaline

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Stop being a little bitch

UPDATE: I'm a very stupid person.


The abductor muscle was strained in both legs so I decided to take a couple of weeks off from running. I've been doing stretching exercises to help recover and prevent further injury. My right leg no longer had any pain whatsoever. In my left leg, I could still feel a tender spot.


I really missed running every day. It was a way to get rid of stress and I really missed it. So, I went running yesterday. I only did a mile as I didn't want to overdo it. That was a mistake. My left leg is right back where I started on day 1. The right leg appears to be totally healed.

I'm gonna have to force myself to let the injury heal and not run again.