Meathead Thread

[Phelia]

I want to be really strong. Even though I get lazy sometimes, I'm usually pretty good about working out, but if I'm being honest, I don't reallllly push myself. My fitness goals weren't that extreme. As long as I could open pickle jars without breaking a sweat, I was happy.

Lately I've been wanting to kick my workout up into a workout. I want to feel stronger. I traded gym classes for circuit training, and I'm amazed at how sore I get the next day, so that's probably good. I run a few times a week, and even though running is really boring and awful and I think the only legitimate reason to run is if you're being chased by a monster, I like being outside.

Anyway, I get really bored really easily and I'm looking for ideas and ways to keep myself motivated because exercise feels good and it's good for me but also it's hard and really makes me want to whine! Why can't I just get super fit by doing nothing??

Tell me how you work out and correct my form and be my spotter.

 

[Laurel]

and even though running is really boring and awful and I think the only legitimate reason to run is if you're being chased by a monster,

Yep.

Or a murderer/rapist.

Sorry, can't help with the rest - but would love to hear anything other folks have to say. I've been doing a set routine for a while and have built up muscle, but can't budge the bits of pudge. Thus, I'll be watching this thread for gems from you hardbody Litsters.

 

[Sean]

 

[chillywilly2]

I built a planter/retaining wall in my yard last summer.
Lugging around and setting 60 pieces of 6x6 hemlock 12' long for 2 months will give you strength you never thought possible.

 

[thør]

The 12 oz lift has been good to me indoors.

Bike riding is great if you have places to do it safely away from the automobile traffic. Road riding is good for aerobic training and MTB riding on trails is a good mixture of anaerobic and aerobic training, depending on the trails.

XC skiing is where it's at for a full body workout in winter.

 

[pete]

I want to be really strong. Even though I get lazy sometimes, I'm usually pretty good about working out, but if I'm being honest, I don't reallllly push myself. My fitness goals weren't that extreme. As long as I could open pickle jars without breaking a sweat, I was happy.

Lately I've been wanting to kick my workout up into a workout. I want to feel stronger. I traded gym classes for circuit training, and I'm amazed at how sore I get the next day, so that's probably good. I run a few times a week, and even though running is really boring and awful and I think the only legitimate reason to run is if you're being chased by a monster, I like being outside.

Anyway, I get really bored really easily and I'm looking for ideas and ways to keep myself motivated because exercise feels good and it's good for me but also it's hard and really makes me want to whine! Why can't I just get super fit by doing nothing??

Tell me how you work out and correct my form and be my spotter.

try Insanity, or P90X workouts. people i know who've done either of those had good things to say.

short of that, your gym ought to have personal trainers on staff who can throw together some workout routines with free weights that should help put a little more grrr into your life

 

[VaticanAssassin]

 

[Phelia]

Yep.

Or a murderer/rapist.

Sorry, can't help with the rest - but would love to hear anything other folks have to say. I've been doing a set routine for a while and have built up muscle, but can't budge the bits of pudge. Thus, I'll be watching this thread for gems from you hardbody Litsters.

Or dinosaurs. And you are perfect. I want a ticket to that gun show. We should start a lady fight club! But instead of fighting we just watch the movie Fight Club and do pushups or something.

Get away from her, you bitch!

I'd rather be Ripley than ripped any day of the week. I think I'd have a hard time getting through airport security, though.

 

[bronzeage]

I want to be really strong. Even though I get lazy sometimes, I'm usually pretty good about working out, but if I'm being honest, I don't reallllly push myself. My fitness goals weren't that extreme. As long as I could open pickle jars without breaking a sweat, I was happy.

Lately I've been wanting to kick my workout up into a workout. I want to feel stronger. I traded gym classes for circuit training, and I'm amazed at how sore I get the next day, so that's probably good. I run a few times a week, and even though running is really boring and awful and I think the only legitimate reason to run is if you're being chased by a monster, I like being outside.

Anyway, I get really bored really easily and I'm looking for ideas and ways to keep myself motivated because exercise feels good and it's good for me but also it's hard and really makes me want to whine! Why can't I just get super fit by doing nothing??

Tell me how you work out and correct my form and be my spotter.

My work out is a combination of free weights and machines. I do breakdown sets. I start with shoulder flys(flies?) with 25lb dumb bells. I do 10 and then rest for 1 minute. I try to do two more sets. When I can't lift the weight, I drop down 5 lbs and keep going until I have the full 30 reps. The idea is to exhaust the muscle sometime close to 30. I go on to do chest flys, tricep and biceps, then go to the machines for rowing and pull downs. I started this particular upper body routine when I was rehabbing a broken arm at the shoulder joint. A year of inactivity left my right arm fairly weak and the left arm pulled my spine off center. It was an interesting xray. Eight weeks of this routine eliminated all the back pain and gave me pain free full mobility in my right shoulder.

The soreness from a heavy work out will last a week or so, but if you keep a regular schedule of at least twice a week, there will not be any more soreness, unless you actually injure something. This is the point of starting with a relatively light load. It's good to tire the muscle gradually, so it will not have the strength to tear something.

The ball end of my right arm bone split open 5mm, when I lost my balance and was trying to keep from falling. The shoulder muscle pulled the bone so hard it broke open. Any larger and I would have required surgery and pins. It's the kind of injury seen in pitchers and quarterbacks.

Once you get past the sore muscle stage, there is a lifter's high, similar to a runner's high. Right now, I feel great.

 

[Phelia]

I built a planter/retaining wall in my yard last summer.
Lugging around and setting 60 pieces of 6x6 hemlock 12' long for 2 months will give you strength you never thought possible.

I had a friend who got rippling biceps from working at a liquor store and moving around cases of beer. So I'm thinking I should buy a lot of beer.

The 12 oz lift has been good to me indoors.

Bike riding is great if you have places to do it safely away from the automobile traffic. Road riding is good for aerobic training and MTB riding on trails is a good mixture of anaerobic and aerobic training, depending on the trails.

XC skiing is where it's at for a full body workout in winter.

You know I still haven't tried that? Show-shoeing is fun. I'd have to go a little out of the city, but I really should. I tend to stay cooped up in the gym staring out of steamy windows when it's snowing out.

 

[glynndah]

I had a friend who got rippling biceps from working at a liquor store and moving around cases of beer. So I'm thinking I should buy a lot of beer.

Or just roam the aisles moving things around.

 

[cookiejar]

I had a friend who got rippling biceps from working at a liquor store and moving around cases of beer. So I'm thinking I should buy a lot of beer.

Cool ... my aunt owns a liquor store. Unfortunately chasing kids all day doesn't cut it.

 

[thør]

I had a friend who got rippling biceps from working at a liquor store and moving around cases of beer. So I'm thinking I should buy a lot of beer.



You know I still haven't tried that? Show-shoeing is fun. I'd have to go a little out of the city, but I really should. I tend to stay cooped up in the gym staring out of steamy windows when it's snowing out.

Snow shoeing is just trudging. Does your city have any groomed ski track in winter?

 

[Dionysian Beast]

I think the key is to have enough focus and will power to pull throw the first few months. Once you get used to it and start really liking working out, it becomes hard to stop and go without it.

 

[Phelia]

try Insanity, or P90X workouts. people i know who've done either of those had good things to say.

short of that, your gym ought to have personal trainers on staff who can throw together some workout routines with free weights that should help put a little more grrr into your life

Ha, I just don't think I can take P90X seriously. I can't even saying it without going into a growly energy-drink commercial voice. Worked with a trainer a few times - I much prefer free weights to the machines. The one closest to my house doesn't have kettlebells, though, which is too bad. I like those! I love learning new exercises. I think it's cool what you can to to torture yourself even without weights. My sister showed me something called "the clam." Holy fuck. An ab exercise with teeny tiny movement and mountains of pain.

Thanks. I will high-five my way to superhuman strength.

My work out is a combination of free weights and machines. I do breakdown sets. I start with shoulder flys(flies?) with 25lb dumb bells. I do 10 and then rest for 1 minute. I try to do two more sets. When I can't lift the weight, I drop down 5 lbs and keep going until I have the full 30 reps. The idea is to exhaust the muscle sometime close to 30. I go on to do chest flys, tricep and biceps, then go to the machines for rowing and pull downs. I started this particular upper body routine when I was rehabbing a broken arm at the shoulder joint. A year of inactivity left my right arm fairly weak and the left arm pulled my spine off center. It was an interesting xray. Eight weeks of this routine eliminated all the back pain and gave me pain free full mobility in my right shoulder.

The soreness from a heavy work out will last a week or so, but if you keep a regular schedule of at least twice a week, there will not be any more soreness, unless you actually injure something. This is the point of starting with a relatively light load. It's good to tire the muscle gradually, so it will not have the strength to tear something.

The ball end of my right arm bone split open 5mm, when I lost my balance and was trying to keep from falling. The shoulder muscle pulled the bone so hard it broke open. Any larger and I would have required surgery and pins. It's the kind of injury seen in pitchers and quarterbacks.

Once you get past the sore muscle stage, there is a lifter's high, similar to a runner's high. Right now, I feel great.

Awesome, thank you! I try and do three sets of six different exercises, 12-15 reps each set. I break the workout into two chunks - three sets of three exercises in rotation with some sort of aerobic exercise in between sets to keep up my heart rate. I try and mix things up fairly evenly, but I'll have days when I focus on legs or arms or core muscles. The pacing keeps me interested and it only takes about half an hour to forty five minutes, but I'm so worn out afterwards. Feels good.

I had a pretty bad back injury when I was younger, so I always try to start lighter and focus on form, but sometimes I get impatient and sloppy. I've stopped being sore after regular workouts, but I still get a burn the next day when I try something new. I love that!

 

[Wings]

I'm going to start pimping myself out to local farms. That's the best workout I've ever done, mucking stalls, throwing hay, fixing fences. That's just the way to go.

 

[Phelia]

Or just roam the aisles moving things around.

Bonus cardio: running from security!

Cool ... my aunt owns a liquor store. Unfortunately chasing kids all day doesn't cut it.

I think it should be an olympic sport.

Snow shoeing is just trudging. Does your city have any groomed ski track in winter?

I just looked. Seems there are a few trails nearby, and there's a giant park very close to here! I'm almost excited for snow now. Almost.

I think the key is to have enough focus and will power to pull throw the first few months. Once you get used to it and start really liking working out, it becomes hard to stop and go without it.

Yeah, routines and habits are really effective for me, and after exercising consistently, you don't want to lose out on the investment you've made in your body. I just haven't been really serious about pushing myself in a while, though. I'm trying to be more disciplined. It's fun! But also hard, so I'm trying to set goals to hit. I've decided I want to do the CN Tower climb in under 20 minutes. I don't know how hard that will be, but it sounds hard

 

[trysail]

I advocate "mixing it up." I believe the serious types call it "cross training." I call it normal variety and fun.


I am very much of the school that believes, in the long run, if you don't enjoy doing something/a particular exercise, you probably won't continue doing it. While I do push every now and then (when I feel like it), I also don't force things when I don't feel like it or there's a risk of aggravating an injury.


How does that translate to everyday activity ?

For me, bicycle riding and playing tennis are the two most painless forms of exercise that exist. I love bike riding; I've done it my whole life. It's a great way to explore places; you see things you don't see when driving a car. Now— I fully grant you that there's a big difference (for me) between a 30/40 mile day and a 60+ mile day. For me, 50/60 miles in a day is a struggle. In those last 10 miles, I'll be cursing and swearing; but, when it's done, I quickly forget it. The truth is that I occasionally like to push myself simply to test my limits. That's just me. I do keep an informal record of distances and times; it's mainly a combination of curiosity, establishing a baseline and seeing how I do against that baseline over time.


The same is true of running. I do 3-4 miles without too much trouble; anything over that requires desire and effort. I occasionally time myself just to see how my times compare with those of years past (I look in disbelief at the time I recorded for a marathon 32 years ago). I'm slower than I used to be. While I might like to behave as if I were 19, the stopwatch tells an altogether different story. While I won't go so far as to agree that there is a "runner's high," I will agree that one's mind can be pleasantly occupied with all sorts of wandering thoughts when one gets into a nice rhythm.


Tennis is mostly unadulterated fun (except when I play poorly and lose to someone I ought to beat). While it was hardly precise, a pedometer once recorded that I covered ~4 miles in an hour and a half of doubles tennis. I prefer playing singles for two reasons: (1) if I lose, there's only one person who can be blamed and (2) it's more exercise. Tennis forces you to do sprints. Sprinting muscles are very different from running muscles.


There is, of course, good old walking and hiking. Two months ago, I heard an orthopedist call walking "slow running." I liked that description. Walking is good for you.


While I like to swim, I cannot stand doing it for exercise. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that it is the most intense and efficient form of exercise there is. 15/20/25 minutes of swimming laps will leave anybody gasping for breath. It's certainly good for the upper body and is an alternative to weights. It is also the most boring and monotonous form of exercise.


I hate lifting weights. I hate the elliptical. I hate the treadmill. I do them but they are last resorts that I tolerate only because winter snow, ice or rain leave no alternative.

 

[Phelia]

I advocate "mixing it up." I believe the serious types call it "cross training." I call it normal variety and fun.


I am very much of the school that believes, in the long run, if you don't enjoy doing something/a particular exercise, you probably won't continue doing it. While I do push every now and then (when I feel like it), I also don't force things when I don't feel like it or there's a risk of aggravating an injury.


How does that translate to everyday activity ?

For me, bicycle riding and playing tennis are the two most painless forms of exercise that exist. I love bike riding; I've done it my whole life. It's a great way to explore places; you see things you don't see when driving a car. Now— I fully grant you that there's a big difference (for me) between a 30/40 mile day and a 60+ mile day. For me, 50/60 miles in a day is a struggle. In those last 10 miles, I'll be cursing and swearing; but, when it's done, I quickly forget it. The truth is that I occasionally like to push myself simply to test my limits. That's just me. I do keep an informal track of distances and times; it's mainly a combination of curiosity, establishing a baseline and seeing how I do against that baseline over time.


The same is true of running. I do 3-4 miles without too much trouble; anything over that requires desire and effort. I occasionally time myself just to see how my times compare with those of years past (I look in disbelief at the time I recorded for a marathon 32 years ago). I'm slower than I used to be. While I might like to behave as if I were 19, the stopwatch tells an altogether different story. While I won't go so far as to agree that there is a "runner's high," I will agree that one's mind can be pleasantly occupied with all sorts of wandering thoughts when one gets into a nice rhythm.


Tennis is mostly unadulterated fun (except when I play poorly and lose to someone I ought to beat). While it was hardly precise, a pedometer once recorded that I covered ~4 miles in an hour and a half of doubles tennis. I prefer playing singles for two reasons: (1) if I lose, there's only one person who can be blamed and (2) it's more exercise. Tennis forces you to do sprints. Sprinting muscles are very different from running muscles.


There is, of course, good old walking and hiking. Two months ago, I heard an orthopedist call walking "slow running." I liked that description. Walking is good for you.


While I like to swim, I cannot stand doing it for exercise. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that it is the most intense and efficient form of exercise there is. 15/20/25 minutes of swimming laps will leave anybody gasping for breath. It's certainly good for the upper body and is an alternative to weights. It is also the most boring and monotonous form of exercise.


I hate lifting weights. I hate the elliptical. I hate the treadmill. I do them but they are last resorts that I tolerate only because winter snow, ice or rain leave no alternative.

Oh, I love swimming! I was a swimmer through early high school and it kept me in great shape. I have to mix it up or I get bored after a few weeks and lost motivation, so thank you for the suggestions! I wouldn't want to play tennis against you. I'm terrible at any sport involving balls - I like to say it's because I have bad depth perception, but I think it's just because I'm really that bad. Biking is wonderful, but I cannot imagine going 50-60 miles in a single day. I would need a realllllly comfortable bike seat. I like the odd yoga class - I want to improve my flexibility and core strength, and it really can be a pretty challenging workout. I took a barre method class, too, and the teacher had a gorgeous dancer's body, but it was a little trendy for my tastes. I have always wanted to try boxing

Hiking is my favorite. That's what I miss more than anything about Arizona. I could run up A mountain every singly morning during university. I have mapped out a few "urban hikes" with interesting city terrain that I do for fun sometimes, but it's just not the same.

 

[blackleggings]

You have great advice from everyone, Phelia. I can share my workout stories with you too, but I think everyone (yourself included) is correct that variety, motivation, and enjoyment are the key components when working out. If you're bored, you're not going to be motivated to have the best workout. You're only going to want to get it over with. My workouts change seasonally. It's no secret that I love to run. Trysail mentions the "runner's high." I'm not sure if it truly exists either, but I definitely get a peace of mind during long runs. My mind wanders, I make plans, tell myself stories, relieve stress, etc. I haven't found a workout that stimulates me as much as running, which is why I need gym classes. Without them, I find myself idly walking around the gym and half-ass trying out equipment. I use classes for weight lifting and cross training. If I were you, I'd try to maybe look up a bootcamp type class. There's a local class that travels around my town so that they have a different workout each weekend. Good luck!

 

[remy_lebeau8]

I tried circuit training for a few months and lost about a pound a week. Sadly I didnt stick with it because I find the gym boring. I wish I had access to a pool. The city closed ours a few years ago

 

[rosco rathbone]

http://knightsoftheoctagon.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/AllFamilyMeathead.jpg

 

[girlsmiley]

Kayaking is a lot of fun. You could join a club.

 

[lovetoread]

I run every day, most times twice a day, which probably isn't enough to excite ya.

 

[thør]

Kayaking is a lot of fun. You could join a club.

Paddling clubs are full of good people.