Takes so long I wish it happened faster

Today I did some lifts at the park while the kiddo ran around the playscapes. I should have done this sooner.

Hey everyone!

Six months ago I made a post about how how I managed to run a 5k in less than 30 minutes. Well just earlier today I managed to double that and ran a 10k in one hour! I'm extremely proud of myself!

I'm not very young or in shape, but about two years ago I made a promise to get better, lose weight, and have a level of fitness I can appreciate. I don't wanna get to 50 and be another overweight American with heart problems. I wanna look and feel healthy.

However I am incredibly lazy and scatterbrained, so I decided to go for an exercise that requires no equipment, no technique, and has a high efficiency for calories burned against time. My best guess was jogging/running would fit well, and I had done jogging for fitness way back in college. But that was just casual fun a few times a week. Two years ago I decided I wanted to do it right and focus. Go for longer distances, pace myself, record my times, that kinda thing. And it's working! I finished a 10k for the first time ever earlier this morning and I finished at 59 minutes 27 seconds!

I guess a full marathon is what I should aim for next. A whole lot is going pretty cool in my life ever since I started jogging seriously. I'm more comfortable in calling myself nonbinary and asexual, I'm dressing more nicely, I have a lot of creative pursuits now, and I don't get tired as easily. I wear makeup and no longer feel weird about it!

I wanna eventually get enough stamina to do a full marathon! Wish me luck, y'all. I wish you all luck and perseverance as well! I'm some lazy smelly goofball so if I can do it you all definitely can

(me every morning at 5:30 am)

I grew on barbell big lifts. Squats, Deadlifts, and bench were all ever knew. I got a kettlebell on whim just to have something indoors for days I couldn't get to the Calisthenics park. Been swinging around this 50 LB / 22 KG orb of steel and I'm feeling and seeing a lot of improvements. Swings, presses, cleans and other mobility training has been a lot more fun and interesting. Going forward I'm gonna be rocking this thing along with my calisthenics. "Functional training" is now my goal now that i'm in my 30s. I want to be able move and groove with ease for the rest of my days, and I think this kettlebell may be the key to that goal.

In my last post I got SO MANY awesome suggestions for exercise routines and videos to help me ease back into being active. One that was suggested is Hybrid Calisthenics, which I think is an awesome start with achievable goals to get me into a consistent routine with my ADHD ass.

It's all based on bodyweight so you can do the exercises at home, the instructor shows you really in depth modifications to make the exercises easier or harder, and he breaks it up into (imo) very doable chunks - 2 different exercises, 6 days a week. I feel like knowing that it'll be such a short amount of time will be motivating, and if I don't do anything else for the rest of the day, I still will have gotten SOMETHING in. He also gives a goal number of reps, so that once you're hitting that number with good form and you aren't dying, you know you should move on to a harder variation.

I did the first day today, and my arms are already sore after a couple hours. So, I think I'm gonna post daily updates on this post as lil updates for myself and I think it could be cool if other people want to try it out and post progress as well! Could possibly be a good motivator!

Anyway, here are links to the youtube video and website with the program:

Hybrid Calisthenics Beginners video
Hybrid Calisthenics Webpage

For the past couple of years I've been extremely sedentary and I am definitely noticing how that's taking a toll on my body. I think I had imbalances and such before but now they are glaringly obvious; one shoulder higher than the other, one hip/glute is tighter than the other, same with calves, etc etc it goes on and on. I wanna try to address this stuff, so if anyone has any pointers or resources that they find helpful for mobility/strength/flexibility that would be dope.

Had the most amazing run. 60 minutes, 7 miles. Not going too fast, just working on some arobic fitness so 7:30-8 minute pace. Slow running down an old gravel road in the wilderness with the sohnds of wildlife. No music just rawdogging it. Fully in beat just listening to the rhythm of my breathing and footsteps. Began to understand why I enjoy this shit, and why people have run for all eternity. Runners high goes crazzzzy.

Hey comrades-

Here's my set-up:

-Rowing Machine

-Pull up bar

-20 lbs kettlebell

-Yoga mat

-Access to (shared gym space) a cable machine, treadmills, and a weight-bench w/ free weights

I'm re-establishing a fitness routine - my previous routine was mostly body-weight exercises and long ass jogs. This time I'd like to make use of the equipment listed above.

One problem I'm having is that the equipment in my apartment seems to be hitting all the same muscle groups, so I don't really have a good "circuit" going. My abs and legs are getting obliterated while my upper body could be doing more. Suggestions on what exercises to add in to balance things out would be welcome.

Aside from that, I'm, not really looking to "get huge" or anything like that - honestly my primary motivator is weight loss. But, I'm fine with building some muscle along the way - so I'm looking for a pretty basic nutrition regiment that isn't super time consuming and won't break the bank, either. I'm considering doing the protein power smoothie thing but I'm also just looking for good advice on this because I'm mostly flying blind which will make me easy prey for online marketing regarding "Supplements". At the same time I don't want to just blindly not ingest a tried-and-true nutritional staple for fitness-minded people.

I am very comfortable in the kitchen so healthy recipes are definitely also welcome. I'm already eating as much broccoli and bok choy as is humanly possible. Though I do want to lose weight, I'm not looking for a keto diet - a life without carbs is not worth living. I'd prefer to intermittently fast if necessary.

and I got fucking food poisoning, lost over 6kg in bodyweight over a few days and didnt go to the gym for over a week. Needless to say, there's no way I'm hitting that kinda weight for a few weeks

Fuck it, we ball

I'm gonna use this post as an opportunity to get some conflictions I've felt in my heart out into the world.

After learning that there was such things as "hot" people and "non hot" people I struggled with self image constantly.

The saying "hell is other people" really sticks with me and characterizes alot of how I would grow to view myself. In terms of my body fat, my barrel chest, my facial structure, and my thinning hair, my view point on the way I look could be characterized as unhealthy at best, and profoundly worrying at worst. In a sense, I'd fully internalized this idea that I'm not attractive.

This translates into today quite interestingly. I left my shitty job, moved to a walkable city, got back into school, got a good workout routine, I'm eating much healthier and now in seeing significant results in how my body looks.

I should be happy right? That's the thing, I am happy. It makes me feel really good. I feel desirable and, sometimes, even a bit hot. Not movie star hot but I've noticed when I crack a smile at people I get a blush or an interested response rather than a neutral or just friendly one.

I guess the bulk of why I wanted to write this is because I feel conflicted about how I never overcame this negativity towards myself based on appearance. If I firmly believe others shouldn't be judged for their outward appearances, then why couldn't I ever internalize it, why can't I bring my mind and subconscious understanding to reflect what I've been taught to believe, what I think is right.

I suppose I haven't got a major point to make. Maybe the healthier body has made a healthier brain and that made me hate myself less. However, I think that may be too simple of an explanation. I'm just frustrated with this sense of learning that, to my subconscious anyway, the fucking shit head vapid and vain ideology infected me so much I was incapable of self love until I reached a point where I thought it was okay to do that.

Maybe you guys have some thoughts from reading this? Regardless, I hope you're doing well comrades and I hope you're getting fit and healthy.

I know it's not that impressive but I've been pretty physically broken for years. I've been working towards the 100 a day for like 3 months now. Started at only two sets of ten a day, today was five sets of twenty. Another could months and I'll be back in Nazi punching shape!

I'm tall, slim and at a beginner-to-intermediate level. My plan is to work out 3 days per week. My main aims are functional strength and calisthenics, supplemented by endurance and flexibility.

So I've been going to the gym since last August and up till now I've looked at individual bits and pieces of information, prepared a general sense of what to do and then kinda improvised when there.

My workout sessions are 2 hours yet I feel like I'm still missing things, maybe I'm just slow? I also 20 minutes on warm-up stretches to cover everything relevant for the day. I can't judge if that's too much and if so how to reduce it in both cases.

Seriously, if you can, just do it. I decided to work on my hip mobility and splits after a very long time and my god, I feel so much better. It relieved pain in my legs, back and a little bit of my desk-borne headache. If you have trouble getting started, find one particular stretch you would like to be able to do, preferably some tangible goal like a full split, and hyper focus on that.

Anyone have favorite (preferably free) programs for building strength. Body weight exercises are best but I could probably get ahold of a kettlebell.

Is it a new routine with a similar name to upper/lower? Tf is pp Arnold and all this other stuff?

My day job involves entering people's basements, and I run into an unused treadmill about once a week. I finally got up the gumption to ask for one, and I managed to snag it and bring it home using my work van. (My car isn't big enough to move this kind of shit around, which also made it difficult for me to grab a free treadmill from craigslist.) I was hesitant to spend money on a treadmill because I worried that it would suck, I wouldn't use it, my spare money can be better used for mutual aid, etc., but I've been wanting a treadmill for years. Sometimes the weather sucks (freezing rain, for instance) and I don't want to go running outside, but thanks to the glories of this random treadmill it's just also so easy now to head into my basement and walk for an hour while fucking around on my phone. It's also helped with my sleep issues a lot.

Just wanted to advocate for this in case anyone else is in a similar situation.

Got sick mid October and when I came back to the gym, the 10% deload was still too much, so I went all the way back down to 100kg and now I'm here. I remember being really scared of 117.5 kg (as you can see on the graph), this feels crazy.

So I use an app for tracking my lifts and it uses that data to show me a few different graphs, including my estimated 1RM. However, this calculated 1rm is based on each individual set, not on all sets - for example I did a set of 4 at 60kg for OHP, but that was my last set, I did 2 more at the same weight for 5 reps each before that. So, yes, it might be accurate to say on the last set, my 1rm was around 65kg, that says nothing about what my 1rm is while not fatigued.

At the moment, I'm just curious what the numbers would be, but I know some routines depend on your 1rm to determine how much you should lift and I'd like to try those at some point. Is this something that is just going to waste a workout session in order to figure out?

Yay

I've really tried with this movement I think. Looked up videos for help with form, but it seems like every one I watch has the back at a different angle. Doesn't matter what the angle is, it's uncomfortable and starts hurting my back if I do it for too long. In fact, it feels more like a lower back exercise than upper back, where I don't feel it at all. The weight is either too light and I don't have to focus on form, but it doesn't feel like I'm hitting the muscle groups I want, or it's too heavy and I'm unable to maintain good form at all. There is no in between weight here.

Additionally, and most importantly, it doesn't feel like there's a way to really struggle through the last few reps. I'm not sure how else to put this, but with squats or other movement I'm comfortable with, the last few reps get really hard but I feel like I can go all out and try really hard to finish them and it actually gets me exhausted. This doesn't happen with rows - the last few reps my form just gives out and I'm just like "whelp, done with that" with none of that sorta satisfying exhaustion I feel from other movements.

This changed yesterday when I went for one handed chest supported machine rows instead and I actually felt that "oomph" at the end. I actually feel a little soreness in those spots I was trying to hit with rows today because of that.

I guess I'm asking if it's ok to just say fuck Barbell rows and go for similar movements with machines instead.

I got a bunch of athletic injuries over the years that never fully healed (tendon/ligament stuff) and physical therapy exercises never really worked in getting back to where I was before.

I've been looking into things like PRP and maybe some kind of stem cell treatments. Has anyone had any experience with them? I've heard from a friend who's known people that have gone overseas for things like issues with their shoulder and came back with great results, so wondering if any comrade here has looked into it, tried it, or known anyone who has tried it. Thanks!

I'm in potato shape and haven't exercised in quite some time. Anyone got some useful advice to prevent me from hurting myself and keeping motivation to get fit?

Yay