So, some time ago I posted here about finally benching 100kg (225lb).
It was a long standing goal of mine since I first picked up some weights, which I did in a vain attempt to make myself more attractive both in my own eyes and in the eyes of others.
I found it helpful to talk about what I wanted out of my time in the gym to people (even strangers), I had some sort of push to get things done once people knew about it.
Since that goal was achieved, I've made 100kg bench a warm up set and my next goal is 140kg (308lb). Squats are sitting at 155kg and my end-goal is 180kg (about 400lb ?), deadlifts are more daunting but my goal continues to be set at 220kg (485lb).
With that in mind, what are your fitness goals? Losing weight? Gaining weight? Running longer/faster?
Tell me all, if you think it'll help you stay accountable I'm all ears.
Well said. I'm all about slowing my inevitable decline too. My Dad had a spinal cord injury when I was 15 (July of 1989) that left him quadriplegic from age 42 until his passing at age 62. As a result, I've never taken my own mobility and fitness lightly.
For the first time in my life I live in a flat city that riding a bike does not terrify me, so my goal is to be able to ride a bike to a lake before the summer is over. After that , I just want to lose a couple of kilos that seem to be hanging around my waist.
Yay for no hills! My town is littered with them so I'd laugh at the idea of cycling anywhere. Because I'm lazy when it comes to cycling.. That waist fat clings on like nothing else aye - I dropped 12kg one time and still had the love handles. I'm too scared to go further cause my strength dive bombed so I embrace them for the time being. Maybe after I hit these next lifting goals I could see if I can cut down to having visible abs. Broccoli and baby spinach paved the way for my weight loss.
My main fitness goal at the moment is to quit smoking. But I feel enough pithy comments have been made. I actually took up jogging again recently after over a year and a half. I've done a few 5km-ish runs at night, and discovered the joys of night running; the calm, the stars, the darkness - though the latter can bring on paranoid visions of a serial killer jumping out of the bushes. Actually I think one of the problems I've had with jogging is a total lack of goals beyond "keep jogging, maybe a little more next time". A marathon is a bit too far out for me right now, but running a 20k would be a good place to try to get too. Congrats on meeting, and exceeding, your goal!
Haha, yes KB, but there's a difference when it comes to breaking a sweat! I've been fairly sedentary ever since then. Time to get out of the rut and off of the couch.
I used to smoke socially. Then, while in China for a while, I started smoking quite a bit more. One day sitting in the tub in China, listening to Tom Waits, I decided that I was going to do things in life that were more difficult than quitting smoking. So I quit then and there, and it's been sort of a litmus test for my resolve.
I love that way of thinking of it! I have bigger hills to climb than this one, takes the sting out of it.
I think that's excellent you've taken up jogging. Hopefully it helps a lot with quitting smoking! I remember talking to some rugby team mates who used to smoke and they said something along the lines of "eventually it made no sense. Smoking and trying to keep fit just don't work, one had to go." Being able to bust out a 5km while still being a smoker is impressive! I feel you on the goal issue with jogging though. At a certain point I just get bored of the running. Weightlifting is at least done very quickly in that sense!
Yeah, they're completely incompatible. The problem is that people sometimes reward themselves for jogging with a big fat cigarette (I used to go jogging with a housemate who would follow up a 10k jog with a trip to McDonald's, in the same vein).
somewhere along the way in the past two years i've met all the muscley goals i wanted to meet (such as they are) so now it's just about getting some level of cardio-type health and more flexibility than a lamppost we'll see
I had a goal to finish the front crawl training and swim three times a week. That has worked out pretty great. I could go on with further lessons, but I know the trainer will put me on an endurance regime, and I know I will hate it after a few weeks. It is much more important to me that I keep exercising two/three times a week than how well I do at it. So my goal is to slowly, steadily, consistently and patiently build towards swimming 1k, which is the goal I would otherwise also pursue with a trainer.
Ooh what's front crawl training? God I wish I wasn't so insecure about my body to swim. I'm a somewhat hairy man and haven't been in a pool shirtless since I was like.. 14? Swimming is so nice and easy on your joints. Totally agree with getting in being the priority over how successful those sessions are. Turning up is a huge chunk of the battle! Let me know how the 1k swim progresses, very keen to hear how it goes!
It's also called the American or freestyle crawl. Today I did half a kilometer with small breaks. And dude, my swimming pool has all shapes and sizes, from bald muscle gods to hairy elderly people. Unlike a gym, the pool is actually fairly representative of society at large.
Nice! I understand it might be an embarassing thought, but apparently not knowing how to swim is alarmingly common in some countries. I live on an island so I can't recall meeting someone who didn't know how to swim, but that is entirely down to geography. I think if you headed into your local pool and asked about it they'd be happy to give you the basic lessons. You'll pick up on it very quickly I bet, given you have experience already. Maybe a couple of lessons over two/three weeks to get instruction on the movements then you'll be practicing and improving on your own. I definitely think you should go for it!
I'm trying to do a bit of everything. I've just started to do olympic lifts, so I'm trying to comfortably rep out cleans at 60kgs, and then just be able to jerk in general. I'd like to get my bench to 275bs ORM, back squat to 315, and front squat to at least 225. With all of this I'm aiming for a 30min 5 mile while mainting sprint speed. Basically the overall goal is to keep a solid balance of endurance, strength, and speed. Several somewhat recent life occurences have held me back but I've been making decent progress so far.
Nice!! I've always liked the look of Olympic Lifts - I'd need to go to a different gym to try them though. My current one doesn't have the rubber plates or the platforms needed... It's decidedly "old school". Great plan to keep the endurance levels up. I'm happy as long as I can still run about 7km when needed but I certainly don't work on it like I should. Keep me posted on your lifting progress, what are the numbers looking like now?
Olympic lifts are definitely worth trying. The change from strength to power feels amazing. Sometimes i do miss the old sweat and iron gyms. My numbers aren't great right now. I dont ORM often so these are all approximation. Cleaning about 125, back squat somewhere in the mid 200's, bench about 205, front squat maybe 185, and 5 miles in around 34-35 min. My training schedule is all kinds of funky, so I've just had to fit in odd workouts here and there
I have a few. They are aspirations, not whipcracks. In the matter of discipline I'd like to be doing yoga more total hours in the week, whatever that looks like. It's only ever done me good and more hours /week I do it the more profound the difference is. My mid-long term goal for stationary biking is to hit 20 miles in a single ride. I've gotten to low teens a few times and it's very rewarding. My weight and I have a complicated relationship at the moment. I have to weigh myself daily to track fluid loss/retention. I eat well, try to keep moving, and let it be for the moment.
I've slowly been working towards my splits. After about a year of work, the front splits are almost there. The side split continues to be less than ideal. As a tall dude who was born stiff as a board, though, I'll take it. Foveaux those are some great numbers. I miss lifting weights, especially the deadlift. I didn't have enough time to keep getting gains and boost my cardio, sadly.
If you want to work on your general flexibility, I recommend Phrakture's Starting Stretching. For splits, their Attaining the Splits is also very good. I'm thinking pretty seriously about taking dance classes, even though I'm the whitest dude alive on the floor.
Anytime mate. I'm mostly looking at latin, swing, and modern styles.