Fitness and prepardness.. but im tired today

[tirwin1]

I joined a crossfit gym roughly 10 months ago. My wife had joined a year before that and I saw the improvement it had made in her life. Prior to that she had essentially stopped going on hikes because she had little strength or endurance. Once I saw how she was able to hike last summer I decided to join.

Crossfit gets a bad rap because of the extra "gung ho" attitude of some people (and the recent drowning death in the crossfit games doesn't help). But at our gym most of the people are there just to get in shape. There are some incredibly large people that are doing the classes so it's not just for the young and thin. I would say women are 50% of the gym membership. One guy in our gym is 72 and I can only hope to perform like him when I am his age. (He'd rather be the oldest guy in the gym than the youngest guy in a nursing home).

The thing I like about crossfit is the varying nature of the exercises. Going for a run or using the same weights is much better than doing nothing. But crossfit classes work on just about every muscle in the body so you don't really get stale. I have a bad back and two bum knees but the instructor gives me alternate exercises if there are things I can't do.

Classes aren't free of course so you have to consider the cost versus working out on your own. But I would recommend joining a crossfit gym if you are serious about getting in shape.

 

[alistair]

I took part in my first GoRuck event yesterday in Warwick, NY.
I have not trained and presently im overweight, so the PT exercises at the start kicked my butt. I managed the trekking portion no problem.
Overall I had a great time and will look into another event after I have done some Crossfit training.

 

[Xae289]

Been consistent with the gym since my August post. My strength has come right back. Easily within 70-100% of my peak levels depending on the lift. My muscles felt like they got inflated with an air hose in the first month.

I got to a good spot strength-wise, so now I'm doing a small, but extreme, cutting phase. I just came off a 5-day water-only fast last week. Broke it with my friends at our hunting camp for 2 days. I did 4 days of lifting during the fast to minimize muscle loss. The 5-day was effortless with no bad effects. I'm jumping straight into an 8-day fast starting last night til next Tuesday morning so I have two days to refeed gently before Thanskgiving.

I'm very experienced at fasting, having done plenty of 2-4 day fasts in the past all while working an intensely physical job and one 5-day while laid-up, injured, but this one's results were interesting. Usually on a 3-4 day fast like I would do years ago, I would shed around 6-8lbs of water weight in the first day or two, lose 1.5-3 lbs of fat, then refeed and instantly regain the water weight. This time, I never got a large dip in water weight. This was especially strange since the days before the fast, I carb-loaded, ate 3 square meals, drank beer and was pissing clear from good hydration. Clothes fit noticeably looser, my tape measurements show ~3% bodyfat loss, but I only regained 2-3 lbs from the refeed for a net loss of 9 lbs (223.8 down to 215.4). This weekend refeed was pretty dirty. Beer, pretzels, and a couple ham + cheese sandwiches on the first day plus more beer, pretzels, cookies, ham+cheese, a lot of venison and bear meat, plus a protein shake before bed last night.

I'm very interested by these results, so I'm going for a cleaner refeed next time. I need to hit the gym before breaking fast and have my first meal be small, but high-protein. Then I'll spend a week eating high-protein, medium carb/fat at maintenance calories for a week after Thanksgiving to reset my diet fatigue and reassess my gym stats while I'm well-fed. A small strength loss is acceptable, strength maintenance would be optimal, and strength gain would be unreal. As long as I don't see that I'm way down in strength to show a major loss of muscle, after a 10-day maintenance phase after Thanksgiving, I'm going to do another 1 or 2 more extended fasts leading up to Christmas. My ideal goal is to spend less time in the gym come January and start focusing on cardio, but I need to be in the 190s first so that I can jog and sprint without it beating the hell out of my knees and feet. My ultimate goal is around 170-180 and bodyfat % in the mid-to-low teens.

 

[Jmac00]

Been consistent with the gym since my August post. My strength has come right back. Easily within 70-100% of my peak levels depending on the lift. My muscles felt like they got inflated with an air hose in the first month.

I got to a good spot strength-wise, so now I'm doing a small, but extreme, cutting phase. I just came off a 5-day water-only fast last week. Broke it with my friends at our hunting camp for 2 days. I did 4 days of lifting during the fast to minimize muscle loss. The 5-day was effortless with no bad effects. I'm jumping straight into an 8-day fast starting last night til next Tuesday morning so I have two days to refeed gently before Thanskgiving.

I'm very experienced at fasting, having done plenty of 2-4 day fasts in the past all while working an intensely physical job and one 5-day while laid-up, injured, but this one's results were interesting. Usually on a 3-4 day fast like I would do years ago, I would shed around 6-8lbs of water weight in the first day or two, lose 1.5-3 lbs of fat, then refeed and instantly regain the water weight. This time, I never got a large dip in water weight. This was especially strange since the days before the fast, I carb-loaded, ate 3 square meals, drank beer and was pissing clear from good hydration. Clothes fit noticeably looser, my tape measurements show ~3% bodyfat loss, but I only regained 2-3 lbs from the refeed for a net loss of 9 lbs (223.8 down to 215.4). This weekend refeed was pretty dirty. Beer, pretzels, and a couple ham + cheese sandwiches on the first day plus more beer, pretzels, cookies, ham+cheese, a lot of venison and bear meat, plus a protein shake before bed last night.

I'm very interested by these results, so I'm going for a cleaner refeed next time. I need to hit the gym before breaking fast and have my first meal be small, but high-protein. Then I'll spend a week eating high-protein, medium carb/fat at maintenance calories for a week after Thanksgiving to reset my diet fatigue and reassess my gym stats while I'm well-fed. A small strength loss is acceptable, strength maintenance would be optimal, and strength gain would be unreal. As long as I don't see that I'm way down in strength to show a major loss of muscle, after a 10-day maintenance phase after Thanksgiving, I'm going to do another 1 or 2 more extended fasts leading up to Christmas. My ideal goal is to spend less time in the gym come January and start focusing on cardio, but I need to be in the 190s first so that I can jog and sprint without it beating the hell out of my knees and feet. My ultimate goal is around 170-180 and bodyfat % in the mid-to-low teens.

I tried fasting once, worse 12 minutes of my life

 

[Celt]

Bodyweight is about 216 now.

I caught a bad flu virus in mid Sept that lasted 6 weeks. The first 3 were brutal with body aches, barely eating and i went from about 220 down to 210. I had no energy to workout until week 5. Been back to eating and lifting for about 3 weeks and my weight and strength came back.

I still have a cough and get short of breath easier but i can get through my workouts so ill manage. My right shoulder doesnt like all the pushups i had been doing so my chest workouts are largely going to be bands/flies.

My knees and feet feel much better at this weight compared to when i was 230. I may try to get to 210 as long as i dont lose strength.

Current regimine is every other day and i have a push day and pull day.

Im also training my 3 boys so that is a lot of fun.