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[Mizhara]

So, about two weeks ago I quit smoking. (Knock on wood.) Partly because I was tired of getting up at night to hork up half a lung worth of phlegm and goo just so I could sleep without sounding like I was gargling a can of lube, partly because I was tired of sounding like Shamu coming up for breath after hauling a patient somewhere. Basically, my shape is neither round, square or good. It's shit.

This is no longer acceptable. For fuck's sake, I was once a sharpshooter in the Army. Running 3km every day before breakfast (in less than 10 minutes, every day.), 15 km before breakfast at least once a week. Various *ups until the cows came home or I got bored. In short, I was in damn good shape.

Having spent most of a decade since then going through various depressions, jobs where physical activity is pretty much nil beyond just muscling patients around and interests steadily moving from mountain/sea activities to spending more and more time at the computer... well, it's ridiculous how bad a shape you can get into.

Today, this changed. Or at least is starting to. I ran for 20 minutes straight (running being defined partly as 'locomotion of some sort combined with steam train sounds'), did miscellaneous *ups until it hurt and then curled up in a fetal position and wept until I could repress my shame enough to face the world again.  However, I also realized something else. This is not fun to do alone. It's in fact depressing to do alone. So, here's the whole point of the thread:

Who's up for sharing a daily work-out diary? Basically, we just once a day (or as often as our schedules allow, minimum of once or twice a week) post in this thread how much we've worked out that particular day, and how we worked out. Amount, length of time, distance traversed (if applicable), weight lifted or whatever. Over time, this'll let us show both ourselves and others the improvements we are making (as work-outs become both easier or get jacked up to more repetitions, longer distances, faster runs and whatever) and keep pushing each other just a little bit more.

Who's up for it? New Years is coming, boys and girls. This is the perfect time to get that new years resolution going, and with the rest of us around we'll be able to keep each other going. I'll set my own schedule to start things off:

Every day:

* Stretching exercises. Gentle  yoga. No time period determined, just specific exercises.
* 20 minutes of running. (Extend to 30 after a few weeks. Further extension can be planned later.)
* For the first four weeks: Pushups, situps, hangups (over, under) and other *ups until I just can't do any more. Fixed number after that.

Once a week: (Most likely Saturday)

* Stretches and warmup.
* Run until I just can't run/walk anymore. Record distance and time spent.

I may set Sunday as recuperation day. No need for more recuperation than that since I'm not doing any serious strength exercises yet.

So, who else wants to get in shape and want a training partner that won't be able to see the love handles jiggle on the treadmill? No judgment on amount of training or anything like that. Just confidence boosting when seeing the recorded improvements (which WILL happen if you exercise, I guarantee it) and if asked, tips and tricks for getting in shape. I'm no personal trainer but my army days taught me plenty when it comes to physical fitness. My paramedic education also gave me a much deeper insight into how and why this shit works.

Come on geeks, nerds and internet assholes. (You're Eve players, you're assholes. Deal with it.) Let's get awesome.

[Senn Typhos]

I do resistance training in the afternoons to maintain my girlish figure. \o/

[Mizhara]

I do resistance training in the afternoons to maintain my girlish figure. \o/

You up for documenting this in the thread, when you do them?

[Misan]

Hmm...I'm starting to do get into serious training of a sub-set of Capoeira called Floreio that I could probably post about.  Haven't totally settled on a schedule of training, though it is looking like I may try to do some for at least ~5 days per week. Will probably have to adjust to account for other training though. I don't do much "traditional" exercise so if nothing else if I post something up here it might give some more fun/interesting ideas for people. Gives me an excuse to stop being lazy about going out specifically to work on conditioning, I've been neglecting that aspect for ages -- basically since I stopped consistently doing solo training.

If I end up derailing the thread at some point with responses to questions I'll just split it into a different topic for the sake of readability. The one on the Rote forums is going on 20 pages now mostly because I can't stop typing.    I'm a personal trainer and coach by trade so I can answer a lot of things, though I'm certainly not an expert on everything (but opinionated nevertheless ). I will say right now that I hate situps with a passion. For basic core strength the plank is so much more useful.

[Senn Typhos]

I do resistance training in the afternoons to maintain my girlish figure. \o/

You up for documenting this in the thread, when you do them?

I'm bad at commitment, but I'll give it a shot.

I know it looks dumb, but it works real good, I swear:

http://www.trxtraining.com/learn/

[Kybernetes Moros]

workout thread \o/

A couple of people here will know that I'm very fond of my exercise. I started "seriously" when I was about 17, so getting on seven years ago, just messing about with some weights in a PE class in school, but it's gradually become a bigger and bigger part of my life.

I tend towards running and weight training, though do play rugby semi-often, when friends and time allow. That's been known to take place in pouring rain now and again. >_> I never had a massive issue with the boredom element of working out, honestly: lifting and running alike are things that I very much enjoy.

If I remember, I'll try and keep something resembling a log here, but for the most part, I'll run shortly after waking up and lift in the afternoon or evening. The distance for the running is variable; on a day when I'm hitting the weights (so most days) I'll shorten the run for later's sake, but on a rest day for lifting I'll go from eight to eleven or twelve kilometres, and occasionally a bit more if I'm feeling especially energetic. The running isn't something I do terribly formally: it's fun, it's a nice way to relax and it's good cardio work. Beyond that, I tend to go for whatever is about right "by eye".

My weight training I'm a bit more careful in documenting, partially for the sake of continuing to progress in load, partially just so I can easily stick to a particular routine / cycle / programme of muscle groups trained each day. Being a bit split for attention right now, I'll hold back from typing that out immediately, but if anybody has any particular curiosity or interest it wouldn't be any problem to share details.

[Zuzanna Alondra]

I used to track my weight, the caloric count of what I ate and document how much exercise I did... not a routine par say, but what is recorded is thought about and done more oft.

*dusts the scale off*  The last 4 people I started this with bailed on me after two months - bring it...

... after I get more AA batteries for my scale.

[Shae Tiann]

I'm up for it. I used to work out daily in college, and I've lost all my muscle definition since moving back to the land of no-sidewalks. Really want to fix that before I'm too old for routines

[Senn Typhos]

There's two things I like about resistance training:

1). You only work with your own body weight, so there's less chance of injuring yourself by pushing your muscles beyond their limits. My freshman-year roommate was a body builder type, worked out every day, took a lot of supplements, etc. One day during supersets, he tried to lift an obscene amount of weight, and arrived at our dorm room with both rotator cuffs torn.

2). It improves your ligaments and flexibility along with your muscles. Back when I practiced TDK with my sister, our teacher tried to emphasize this by leaping in a very narrow arc over a kickboxing stand, safely rolling back to a standing position on the other side. Neither of us ever matched it, but it was impressive to see a physically strong man manage that kind of agility when the aforementioned roommate couldn't tie his shoes with any alacrity. >>

Anywho, just finished my set, so I'll try my best to describe the process. Maybe I'll sell some of you on it.

With the resistance straps, you don't perform sets of multiple motions. Instead, exercises are given in "start" and "end" positions. You go from start to end, hold the pose for thirty seconds at a time, and return to the start, to perform the exercise. The slower the action, the more the muscles strain. You keep tension by working with gravity and the resistance of an "anchor point," in my case a door frame. A simple workout looks like this:

Chest Fly: Standing away from the anchor point, you balance on your toes and stretch your arms outward. This makes your body lean forward, pulling the muscles towards the handles. You hold this pose for thirty seconds, return to start, and do this again twice more. Its basically like doing a push-up in the air.

Chest Row: Same as above, but facing the anchor point and leaning back.

Bicep Row: Same as the Chest Pull, but with your arms tucked in close.

Back Stretch: Imagine trying to sit down while keeping tension on those bands, and you have a basic idea of the stretch.

Rollout: Not gonna lie, this one really sucks. You face away from the anchor point, balance on your knees, and stretch as far outward as you can while keeping tension on the bands. I swear, it feels like your abs are splitting. @_@

In all it takes about eight minutes to do a simple workout. Stretches your muscles, pops your joints, and you feel pretty "worked out" at the end despite the minimal time spent.

[Victoria Stecker]

I have been struggling to get back into exercise for the last few years. The short story is that I was a distance runner in high school, could comfortable run ten miles (16km), could bench almost my body weight (about 155 lbs, which at 5'9" made me one of the stockier guys on the xc team). Then I developed Crohn's disease. probably slowed me down, didn't stop me. Then, about the same time I turned 20, it decided to kick my ass. Dropped from 155 to 125 (pretty much all muscle mass since there wasn't anything else to lose) in roughly 4 weeks, chronic blood loss killed my cardiovascular endurance, and the most effective medication we've got (prednisone) has been slowly killing my bones for the last 4-5 years. It's currently a struggle to keep at 140#.

All this to say that I'm basically starting from zero when I try to get myself working out again, which is horribly discouraging (a couple years of depression don't help motivation). I'm also extremely prone to injury because of the pred. I will, however, have to look into resistance training because it looks like something I could do that is less likely to hurt me. For a month or so earlier this fall I was ice skating a couple times a week, then my knee started bugging me. My gf is trying to get me out running with her again, I'm just scared of getting hurt again.

blarg.

[Misan]

[mod]Topic split now. This thread is now for posting logs and tracking stuff. Use the discussion thread to talk generally about exercise and movement.[/mod]

Did the beginner version of this today and it was a humbling experience. Already could do some of the other ground work without any issue, but I consistently failed at this. I knew my shoulders needed work, but even holding low bridges was difficult and it feels like it may take a couple solid weeks of practice to get a vaguely decent version of the full flow shown at the top of the page (QDR to QDR). Nice to have found a challenge that I can focus on for the next couple months at least. 

[Kybernetes Moros]

Splitting off for a log thread might be worth the time lest discussion start making it a pain in the as toog -- and I agree with the point about diet. Mine hasn't been on the best form over Christmas, but it's something I put a lot of effort into -- one of my biggest pet peeves is when people ask me how to get bigger and then refuse to eat. When people take the necessity for an eevated food intake as being an excuse to go nuts on high fat stuff constantly does terrible things to me too.

(gah, wrote this before the message for splitting went up -- probably fits better in the discussion thread >_>)

[Zuzanna Alondra]

Dec 30, 2011 - I track my caloric intake by writing down what I ate and then searching caloriecount.com when I get home.  Half of the way I track things is by figuring out what is a healthy portion.  Tomorrow I'm scheduled for 4+ hours of paintball - so that should be good exercise.

[spoiler]158.5lbs
Breakfast: Tea(15) and 4 tea biscuits(150)
Lunch: Crystal Light water (5), string cheese (80)
Snack: Bread rolls (260), water
Dinner: Lasanga (250), Eggnog (343)
Treat: Left over Halloween Candy (103 + 177 + 180)
Total: 1563

Ended up going on a long car drive - got treated to a nice pair of hiking boots~
Lesson learned: those bite size candies aren't worth it!  Also who knew eggnog had so many calories in them![/spoiler]

Dec 31, 2011 - played several several hours of paintball with a bunch of friends.  It was definitely a kick. Lesson learned today - espresso stand drinks have as many calories in them in one drink as an entire lunch could have.  I already knew pizza was the devil.  Also I learned not to leave my leg sticking out of the bunker - I deserved the string of welts on my thigh...

Add two hours of Contra dance for New Years!  Mild irony in an American getting in touch with their British roots by doing a dance type that originated in Scotland in a Norwegian dance hall.

[spoiler]
Breakfast: tea (15) and yogurt (190)
Lunch: 1 1/2 peanut butter jelly sandwhich (499) and a pear (96).
Snack: medium steamer at Wood's Coffee (466)
Dinner: 3 slices of pizza (840) and 2 bread sticks (180) - my boyfriend bought the drink and pizza, maybe I should of filled him in on my diet efforts or I should of politely said no thanks - but YUMMY?
Snack: 2 cups punch (200?)

Calories estimated burned during paintball: 865 (based on the nearest activity I could find; light walking for 3 hours)
2 hours contra dance: 649

Total: 927[/spoiler]

Jan 1, 2011:
Babysitting and hauling around some firewood. Overall a dull start to the New Years.  I did however figure out what was wrong with my scale - the batteries are rechargeable and not holding a charge.

[spoiler] Breakfast: Eggnog and water (343)
Lunch: Baked Potatoe (241) with cheese (228) and sour cream (103) w/ water
Dinner: Tuna Salad (168) and saltines (179); water.

The trick with the tuna salad that made it so low calorie was using barely any mayo and using more relish and mustard for liquid.

Total: 1261[/spoiler]

[Zuzanna Alondra]

Three days down with an extreme craving for chocolate - it doesn't matter what you track, exercise, calories, weight, steps walked - what is tracked and measured is followed through on.

[Bacchanalian]

Been working out steadily since October or so, but December at work kicked my ass and working out 4 times a week dropped to 1-2 times a week dropped to not at all once I yanked a muscle in my back carrying a heavy box over an icy driveway and slipped awkwardly.

Once I get back from vacation (am in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the moment), I plan to get back on my routine.  I dropped about 20 lbs since starting the routine, but have probably inched back another 5 of that on over the holidays.  Still, it's a pretty significant drop (I was at 6 foot 220 lbs), and that's with putting on muscle--the majority of my working out stuffs has been weight lifting and I've built a good bit since starting.  I don't really have a target weight in mind, and am not going to kill myself a) trying to be a record-setting weight lifter or b) trying to chisel every fucking muscle on my body so I could strip for an anatomy class and replace their textbooks for the muscular system sections, but instead am just aiming to get healthier.  Drop the excess "I spend too much time in front of the computer" weight and add some "I actually can lift more than a 12 year old girl" muscle back on. 

The trick once I get to where I want to be is keeping myself there.