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Author Topic: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING  (Read 53997 times)

JoshuaFH

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How's your finger doing Nenjin?
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nenjin

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Hey sorry, never saw this!

Thanks for asking. The finger is fine. After all the dead skin came off and another bit of unhealed me scabbed over again (the wound as a whole bled for like 2 weeks....), there's nice pink flesh there and a pretty respectable scar. There's two patches of flesh on either side of the scar that are just kinda...thick and numb. There's a good chance I won't get much feeling back in that area in general (although if I whack the tip of my finger against something where the wound started, boy, do I feel that.) It's very tight and pulls at my finger constantly and that's going to take some work to not become permanent. My grip is starting to come back, although typing with that finger feels very awkward and unpleasant, so I've had to learn to compensate with my ring finger. And the feel of knurling pressing in to that part of my finger while I lift? Mmmmm, yeah, that's fun.

Still though, small price to pay for having a finger.

It put me out of working out for about a month and a half. I could have gotten back to working out a little sooner than that, but I didn't want to make the wound any worse by exerting myself (and I'm glad I didn't), and I also got a little bummed and demotivated. The shift back to being sedentary, while kind of appreciated, did not feel very good. I was amazed by both how fast I fell back in to my previous routines as far as nutrition and generally how down I felt. (Although a lot of that was anxiousness about my finger and it disrupting all the routines I'd just formed. Hard to make a decent meal in good order with only one truly good hand.) But it's pretty typical when you go from working out that consistently to nothing to feel a crash.

I'm back to working out now, but there has been and is still a lot of travel I have to do soon so it's been off and on restarting. And mmmmmaaaaaaaaannnnnn is it tough. I've had to dial back all my workouts because I'm just plain exhausted from them, and my body really lost the conditioning very quickly.

Put it this way: Fridays are my leg/lower body day. Before the accident I'd do 35x25x3 kettle bell swings, 10x3 side lunges for each leg, 15x10x3 weighted standing lunges for each leg, 35x10x3 kettle bell goblet squats and 3x15 sec stomach vacuums. I was getting through those workouts tired but feeling good. Sore for a day or two afterward.

This Saturday I did my first leg routine since the accident. I did all that above, except one less set of each. And my legs STILL FUCKING HURT today. I was practically crippled Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. (To be fair, I've also walked about 7.5 miles since Saturday, just something I've been doing since I haven't been doing my full workouts.) I don't think I've hurt this bad since I started working out almost a year ago. I did my normal Wednesday workout today as well, and basically did 2/3rds of it. It sucks to feel like I've slipped this far and I'm not sure about all the why's behind it. I know my nutrition fell off there for a while and I was under eating for part of the time I was injured. But I've more or less gotten back to normal habits at this point, and still I'm pretty exhausted. My motivation is about back to where it was before the finger thing, but maybe not. Secretly I think I could probably push through all these workouts to my original set #'s, but right now I'm pretty shaky by the time I've done 2/3rds, and it's taking about an hour to do. Which is pretty slow for me. And considering my legs, holy shit I'm not sure how sore I would have made myself if I'd tried to jump back in to my normal workout immediately. There's a couple times doing lunges I almost lost my balance and rolled over on my ankle, and I almost didn't make it out of some of my squats. That's usually a sign you're at your limit.

I guess it'll take another couple of weeks being consistent to get back to where I was. On the plus side I've already worked off most of the fat I put on after doing nothing and eating pretty badly for a few weeks. Still chasing that dragon, now that I'm no longer laid up.

ANYWAYS.

The reason I came back to the thread was to post an experience I just had yesterday, as an example of why you should always be careful of who you listen to or what you buy in to in the fitness industry.

Spoiler: False Pretenses (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: May 18, 2018, 08:12:18 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
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How will I cheese now assholes?
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Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Heh. TFW you thought you were strong and then it turns out you're not even close.

Tried to start doing Bulgarian Split Squats, to hit my glutes a little harder during my leg days. I typically do Single Leg Standing Squats with 15 pounds, and I wouldn't say I'm exactly good at them, or that I should even be trying them with that amount of weight. So why I thought BSS would be easier......

But holy shit. I could get one rep in before I'd spend most of my time and energy not trying to tip over. My off leg was doing an insane amount of work to try and stabilize me, as was my obliques and other obscure muscles around the trunk I don't know the names of. And it pretty much wasn't working. So I had to drop the weights. And even then I found it very difficult to maintain my balance, or to even begin to go as deep as you'll see most people demonstrate it. I guess the road the progress just got that much longer.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2018, 08:17:38 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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How we doin' folks?

I had a realization the last couple of months....I vastly overestimated how low my body fat % was.

I know this because I keep losing body fat from where I was before. Just looking in the mirror I can see it. Despite the scale not changing at all, I can see myself getting leaner. So now, finally, I think I'm at 15% body fat.

And when you're getting this low.....it's amazing what a bad week of eating will do to you. It's been said that the leanness which gets you a six pack can disappear easily and I can believe it.

It also takes a real calorie deficit to keep losing the body fat. Which gets harder and harder to maintain as you continue to drop body fat and get hungrier and hungrier. For the first time in my entire life, I'm hungry when I wake up in the morning. I've gone 30 years without ever thinking about breakfast but now, even with the appetite suppression of cigarettes, I'm having to consciously control my desire to eat.

So it hasn't come as a surprise to me that, despite all the weight training I'm doing, I'm not really growing much muscle mass because I'm in a calorie deficit. I'm growing enough to offset my fat loss so my weight continues to hover around 186....but it's still a little discouraging. The day I work out I get a nice pump in, and I like the way I'm looking. But a day or two later when the pump has faded, I still look and feel skinny. Of course, I've become exceptionally bad at judging my own progress. All I see is the body I want to have, and while academically I can appreciate the gains I've made, emotionally in my eyes I'm still the same skinny dude I was a year ago. I can tell the difference just in how people react to me, so I know there's change. I just wish I felt and saw it as much as others do.

Ah well. It's a process. I'm officially one year in to getting fit as of this month, and I'm pretty pleased with the progress I've made. My "true" start is in October when I started actually paying attention to what I eat. The vast majority of this year has been learning, experimentation and conditioning. Only in October or November did I really start doing anything that approximated programming.

I may have the desired level of leanness by the end of the summer but I'm not really sweating it. At least...not metaphorically. (It's pretty much consistently 100 degrees Fahrenheit right now.) I've added about 10 miles of walking a week for the little extra bit of calorie burning, a tan and just as a cooldown from my workouts. And I'm actually really enjoying it. It's adding weight to the desire to start running but I need to quit smoking before I can make that a reality.

I'm also due for another rest period I think. The month I took off from injuring my finger was good, I suppose, for my physical health but it kind of sucked mentally. It didn't feel like a real rest period. I was carrying a lot of stress around then too. I came back feeling stronger and more vital in my workouts in some ways, but after another couple of months I'm now feeling tired and my shoulders in particular are starting to feel a little....grindy.

It's kinda tough. I want to take a nice two week break, especially because I have a week's vacation coming up. But I don't want to lose my momentum either and have to drag it back to the fore. I sort of view every week I don't work out as a missed opportunity and I don't like that feeling. Every time I take a rest period, intentional or otherwise, I can't help wondering how much further along I'd be without said rest.

Anyways, hope your guys' fitness goals are remaining intact.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 01:51:54 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Loud Whispers

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Yeah it's a good sign you've bumped up your activity if you realize you need more calories, grats fam
Not having regular meals is a good way to lose fat, whether by choice or circumstance. There is only one place in the world where I never feel hunger, and that's wherever my Grandmother is in the vicinity. As with all human impulse, the tolerance of it is built with repetition

nenjin

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I've been chronically under eating my whole life, while simultaneously eating pure garbo.

The problem is I'm not ready to either a) bulk or b) maintain. I still have this ideal body I want to achieve, if only to get there for a time before reverting back.

I wanna cut down to the body fat % I idealize so I can use it as a stable basis to go forward from.

That's the hope at least.

In truth I could have probably already been shredded by now, except that:

-I didn't completely eliminate sugar from my diet. Excluding breads, I still get between 30 and 60g a week.
-Carbs still make up 40 to 50% of my daily intake. I should get that # lower, honestly.
-I don't eat 100% clean. Far from it. I'm probably eating....50% clean right now. I always eat lunch out, and I'd say about 1/3rd of my evening meals I don't prepare for myself. The choices I make when I don't cook for myself are generally pretty healthy (lots of Indian, Vietnamese and Middle Eastern food lately), but they're still about 40 to 50% carbs.

If I had done all three of those things (zero sugar, drastically reduced carbs, 90% clean eating), chances are I'd be at 10% body fat already. But it wouldn't have lasted. My whole plan in starting out with this was: how lean can I get with nutritional habits I can live with? So far I'm still losing fat, it's just slower. I suppose the real test would be to stop working out completely and just see if I continue to drop fat with my current nutrition plan. But I'm pretty sure within a month of not working out my metabolism would slow down, and most of the carbs I currently burn off for energy now would get stored as fat again.

So I'm treading the line with my caloric intake. It's not even a matter of skipping meals....per se. I eat two large, reasonably healthy meals a day during the week, and a pre-bed snack of fruit, some Cheerios and a protein bar. It's the weekend where my nutrition really tanks. Not for eating garbage, although weekends are where I let myself have a cheat meal and a soda......but because I usually go down to one meal out of laziness and keeping weird hours. So I'll do 1 large meal with some supplementary snacking.....which by my estimates, leaves me at a pretty significant calorie deficit. Weekends is where most people trying to lose fat up their calorie intake....for me it's the opposite. The quality of food I eat on the weekends goes down for sure....but in terms of total caloric intake, it's actually lower on the weekends than it is the rest of the week.

TBH I'm kind of looking forward to a bulk, assuming I can first trim down to where I've set my goals. I've been so mindful not only of what I eat but how much for the last year......it is going to be wild to allow myself to eat as much as I can handle.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 03:26:31 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Loud Whispers

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https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/how-much-sugar-is-good-for-me/
NHS says 5% of your daily caloric intake from sugar is all right, so your weekly sugar seems completely fine. Might just be a matter of time and persistence

nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #232 on: August 02, 2018, 09:12:35 pm »

Took two weeks off from working out, and spent one of them stretched out on the beach getting a tan. I feel pretty fucking great right now, after 2 weeks back to my routine. When you work hard, you need to rest hard too and it was definitely time for it.

That said I've had some time to reflect on a few things that I've learned in the last year.

Spoiler: Musclings (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 03, 2018, 08:08:45 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Caz

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #233 on: August 03, 2018, 05:10:51 am »

Also recently went on Soylent so I guess ama

why do you hate food  T_T
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scriver

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #234 on: August 03, 2018, 08:22:29 am »

Caz yer Scotty roight 'ave ya ever eatin deep fried snickers
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Love, scriver~

Rowanas

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #235 on: August 03, 2018, 09:34:26 am »

I've been trying to go swimming in the mornings but it's so hard to wake up and force myself out and about at that time.  On the bright side, it's great exercise for all my body! No skipping arm days (my legs are waaay more powerful, so I'll tend to skip my upper body out of sheer laziness) and people can't really tell how fat I am!  I was even pleasantly surprised to find that if I flex, my arms aren't like soft custard anymore.

Most of my actual weight loss has been down to poor time management - I eat on sunday evening because my housemate makes food. After that, there are good odds that if I can resist breakfast on Monday, I'll be able to get through to Tuesday evening to have a meal due to social obligations. Same thing from Wednesday evening to Friday evening.  If I start GMing on Wednesdays as intended, I'll go Wednesday without eating as well.  Sadly, My peak weight is 16 stone and my minimum is about 13.  This wouldn't be a problem except that at 13 stone I'm still supposedly obese or at least majorly overweight for my height (5' 8").
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #236 on: August 03, 2018, 10:46:13 am »

That's a lot of fasting.

Suggestion: keep doing your fasting but give yourself a refeed day. If you fast too much your body will start trying to resist further fat loss, because it doesn't see nearly enough calories coming in.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Caz

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #237 on: August 03, 2018, 11:44:20 am »

Caz yer Scotty roight 'ave ya ever eatin deep fried snickers

nope, is that a good idea? there's a chippy near here that does fried mars bars and fried creme eggs but I've never been drunk enough to order one.

...which is surprising actually.
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scriver

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #238 on: August 03, 2018, 11:52:10 am »

I want to visit Scotland and have one. Will you take care of me?
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Love, scriver~

Yoink

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #239 on: August 03, 2018, 11:56:43 am »

I want to visit Scotland and drink my bodyweight in Tennent's super.


...Also, uh, I'm totally getting fit. Yup. Uh-uh. Every day the journey continues. At least, I have actually managed to gain five kilos. How many cans would that be?
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Booze is Life for Yoink

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