The ***OFFICIAL*** ATOT get-your-geek-butt-back-in-shape thread!!**UPDATED**

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: dakata24
well, i need to gain some weight.. my friend tells me he drinks protein shakes at the gym he goes to.. wont tell me what kind.. any recommendations on some good tasting protein shakes? i'm currently ~130lbs (for as long as i remember) @ 5'9". definately wouldnt mind packing a few pounds here and there. my goal would be ~145 - 150lbs..

fausto1: i might be mistaken, but are you the one that has the heart monitor watch that lets ya download stats to your pc? if so, are their any that are a bit cheaper than the model you have? i recall it being in the $250+ range for the watch...

oh, and great idea on this thread..

Protein Shakes: I find the Pro-Score 100 chocolate to be fairly tasty when mixed in milk. Two scoops + a pint of milk is 50+g of protein. Just don't forget that eating alone will only put on fat weight, you need to lift to put on muscle. Protein supplementation just makes sure your body has plenty of "building blocks" to put on the muscle once you stimulate it to do so by lifting.


Yep, I'm the geek with the watch. Most of Polar's stuff can be had for around 20% under their MSRP, so I think I actually paid like $230 for it. Kind of a lot, but no more unreasonable than the same amount for a new vid card, right?
Anywho. The Polar M series monitors might be more in line with your budget. You can't upload the data, but it does store each workout on the watch itself so you can write down (from Polar's web site) Exercise Date and Time, HR Limits, Time in Zone, Avg. HR, Total calories of exercise, Total calories, and Total exercise time.

The cheapest downloadable I could find was here at $150.

Fausto

 

[schdaddy]

23yrs old @ 5'8" 170lbs - Started weight training 1 1/2yr ago
I've made incredible gains considering I have a small frame.

Work out 3x a week for 1hr or longer:
I work EVERY body part (i know they say not to) chest, back, arms, abs, legs, everything
after weight training I jog about 1 or 2 miles
usually in the evening & 2 hrs after a meal

Eatting: tons of Protein, chicken & tuna - plus I never eat after 9PM
taking Creatin & vitamins (wish I had some extra $$$ for Protein)


I must say that if I didn't buy my own free-weight machine, that I would have never started working out. I always hated going to the gym & seeing some massive ripped beast making me look like a "sissyboy", but now I no longer care and wouldn't mind going. It's not only been a great physical experience but also a great mental experience. Nothing like the "ego" boost it has given me & a great stress reliever!



BTW, Fausto1 great thread

 

[StageLeft]

My favorite protein shake that I have every morning is two scoops of EAS banana creame whey protein (cheap stuff), serving of skim milk, and a frozen banana cut up. 300 calories and about 30 grams of protein. Yum.

 

[Fausto]

For those of you possibly interested in a heart rate monitor, I just checked Ebay (here) and there are some pretty good deals to be had. The M series are more "fitness/weight loss" oriented whereas the S-series are more geared to competitive athletes. Unfortunately, the S-series are the only ones that come with software and can upload data to your 'puter.

Fausto

 

[dakata24]

fautso, thanks for the links.. definately will try those protein shakes you recommended.. right now, i do free weights and very light cardio.. i just fixed/cleaned my mtn. bike so im hoping to do alot of riding this summer...

 

[kei]

it's been maybe 5 years since i've done any rigorous activity
today i ran 2 miles which is quite an accomplishment since i suffer from exercise induced asthma
right now i'm feeling pretty good but i'm wondering how my body will feel tomorrow
besides stretching before and after, are there any other tips to help reduce muscle soreness?

i just realized one mile of running/walking burns 100 calories
bummer
makes you rethink that can of soda and bag of chips

 

[777php]

I been trying to get fit for the past month and in my own eyes, I've done extremely well. I've lost 11 pounds in 1 month and in another month and a half I should have met my weight goal. I feel stronger and look stronger plus I have more energy throughout the day. Counting weight lost is sometimes misleading as I may have lost more than 11 pounds of fat as I have gained muscle weight.

I try to eat under 1500 calories a day and work out for about and hour and a half. I watch what I eat down to the very last bite. I'm suffering now, but I figure once I reach my weight goal I can eat normally once again and of course keeping a rigorous workout routine.

For my workout, I run for approx 20 minutes on a treadmill everyday followed by 40 minutes of weight training and abs. I then run again for 30 minutes. After I lose the weight I will concentrate more on weight training, but for now I need the cardio.

I am now at 175, my goal is to be a muscular 160-165. BTW I am 5'10'.

 

[Fausto]

besides stretching before and after, are there any other tips to help reduce muscle soreness?

Ibuprofin is your friend.

i just realized one mile of running/walking burns 100 calories
bummer
makes you rethink that can of soda and bag of chips

Good calorie calculator here. Even includes calories burned during sex for all you nerd-casanovas.

Fausto

 

[777php]

I like this calorie estimator as it estimates your burn for the entire day.

Calorie Calculator

Soda is really bad for you if you are on a diet as it is 100-150 calories without any nutritional value plus you don't become satiated by it.

 

[Servnya]

How bout a sticky on this one, mods? I think it's a great idea to have this as a reminder and motivator!

 

[Arkitech]

I'll jump in with my 2 cents


I'm hoping to lose about 30-40 pounds

I'm currently about 275 now but if I can manage to drop about 40 which would put me at 235 I'd probably be ripped.

Over the past week and a half I've been kicking ASS. I do cardio at least once everyday sometimes up to 3 sessions in a day. I've also been weight lifting every 3 days to build up my upperbody. As of yesterday I started doing pushups in the evening. I plan on doing a minimum of 100 a night for the next 4 weeks. In fact I'd like to add 100 a week until I reach a total of 400 pushups a night.

My diet is really simple. I only drink water and I eat 4-6 smalls meals consisting of green vegetables and a variety of off-the-grill meats. I reward myself with a few sugar free cookies which gives me just enough carbs to keep my metabolism from slowing down. The cool thing about the diet is that I can eat bacon, sausage, bbq (as long its not drowned in sauce) So far its been working I've lost nearly 5 pounds in about a week and a half. I can also see a difference in my appearance. I can't wait until I finish a full month and check the progress.

 

[Fausto]

235 is ripped for you?:Q

(note to self: don't piss Arkitech off without sufficient backup present)

 

[Fausto]

Well, I'm outta here. Wish me luck as I'm riding home and then headed over to one of the Tuesday night group rides. I'm guessing I'll be handed my butt on a platter, but I have to jump in the fire sooner or later....all this training by myself is getting boring. I'll upload my HR data once I get home so you can all experience the wonderment of my suffering.

Fausto

 

[geekender]

Just out of curiousity, was this really a ploy to avoid traffic Fausto?

My wife and I have started running 2 miles a day...its a start. But here in deez mountains, we have sucha thing calls hills that makes the run ever so slightly more difficult.

Height 5'10"
Weight 195lbs

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: geekender
Just out of curiousity, was this really a ploy to avoid traffic Fausto?

My wife and I have started running 2 miles a day...its a start. But here in deez mountains, we have sucha thing calls hills that makes the run ever so slightly more difficult.

Height 5'10"
Weight 195lbs

Geek: clearly the thin air up where you live has affected your memory. Atlanta is plenty hilly, belive me....and yes, it's a ploy to avoid traffic. I figure if I can get everyone out jogging, they can't run me over when I'm riding home.

Got rained out today, so no sob story about how I got killed on the group ride. Another update tomorrow.

Totals for the day: One hour on bike (commute) @ 16.7mph..approx 700kcal.

 

[Arkitech]

Fausto how did your bike riding turn out for you yesterday?


Yesterday did'nt go that great for me, I managed to get in 2 HIT cardio sessions. But I was also supposed to do some ab training and 100 pushups. I only managed to get 35 pushups and 0 situps, and to make things worse I had a bag of gourmet cheese popcorn. Hopefully that popcorn won't mess up my progress to bad.

On the flipside this morning I got in a fairly good workout with the free weights. 1 down 2 to go


This post was a great idea Fausto

 

[StevenYoo]

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!!!

 

[Fausto]

Rained out yesterday evening so only an hour on the bike (work commute) + crunches.
Tasty dinner (chicken curry w/tons of veggies prepared by my fabulous wife) with one glass of wine and lots of water.

Wed Morning Update

Weight: 205
Resting Pulse: 67 (little higher than yesterday...tends to creep a bit through the week as I get fatigued and then drop down after my Monday rest day)
Blood Pressure: 130/75 (thanks to the CDC's fitness center for that bit of data)

I wore my HR monitor on my commute today if anyone's curious to see what even an hour of cycling looks like. Will upload this evening.

Fausto

 

[Adul]

yeah i got to get out more and play some basketball. But my shoes are at my friends house . I'll settle for some swimming tonight. I went waking boarding yesterday

 

[Koing]

I can help fausto1 out as well.

To help reduce sore muscles do your sit ups and back work at the end, it drawas all the blood back to yoru body f rom your limbs. Then when you stretch it disperses. But now after Weight Lifting I really don't bother to stretch down anymore. i just can't be bothered after Weight Lifting. But in time depending on your age you win't feel sore after the training. Also Vitamin C and oranges help with recovery.

My Info:

Almost national level Olympic Weight Lifter. I use to train 3x a week every week. Been doing this for the past 12 months with a coach at the club I belong to. I now do it 2x a week.

I do Gymnastics 3x a week now. Great training for strength and cardio. And I learn to do flips and tricks.

2' from box splits. Hoping to do full box splits by end of September. I do 15minutes of stretching going t hrough all muscles in warming up. Go through my training then finish with 10 reps x 3 sets of pull ups alternating with leg rasiers haning from a bar with a plank behind my back. Again 10 reps 3 sets. Then I go through my ab routine.

20 lower leg lifts with straigh tlegs
20 side crunches on right side
20 side crunches on left side
20 rowing crunches
20 leg and upper body lifts when lying on the floor facing down
20 upper body lifts lying down on the floor, legs straight and pointed toes
20 reverse leg lifts when lying down on the floor
20 rocks; I dish my body backwards when lying with my face towards the floor and I rock for 20 rocks.
then I finish with as many jack knives as i can manage.

This is all constant work with NO rest period between them at all. I finish one and I go straight to the next and work through it quickly. Thats 240 lifts for my abbs quick. After this I get my Gymnastics coach to help me stretch my legs out.

Weight: 75.75kg = 167lbs (Olympic Lift in 77kg Cat) (true body weight with no water or food, body weight does go to 80kg = 176lbs though at night with food and water)
Height: 5"10
BF%: 11.7 (shooting for 9% by end of September)

Chest: 40"
Waist: 32"
Hips: 34"
Quads: 24"
Calfs: 15"
Bi ceps: 14"

I have been training for 36 months. Past 12 month with a coach 3x a week for Olympic Lifting. Past 2 months also at a Gymnastics club with a coach. The first 24months was me working out on my own and learning a lot about training methods and things.

Train hard and you can achieve a lot. I sure know I have. Also best to train when your younger around late teens as you have higher levels of testerone.

 

[StageLeft]

I did my resting heartrate yesterday. It's 54 bpm! I rock I don't even do that much cardio ;0

 

[tweakmm]

This morning I finaly went to the gym. I have been meaning to get in shape for a while but never really had the dicipline. My routine is going to be about 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of resistance training every other day(when I go to the gym) and on the days where I stay at home I'll be doing 45 minutes of pretty hard cardio on my exercise bike. Hopefully I can tone up a bit before the end of summer

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: tweakmm
This morning I finaly went to the gym. I have been meaning to get in shape for a while but never really had the dicipline. My routine is going to be about 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of resistance training every other day(when I go to the gym) and on the days where I stay at home I'll be doing 45 minutes of pretty hard cardio on my exercise bike. Hopefully I can tone up a bit before the end of summer

Cool, keep us posted. I'm hoping folks will contribute daily/weekly updates on their progress to help keep everyone motivated.

 

[RossMAN]

Great thread, a great addition would be to edit the first post and include some helpful book suggestions ... maybe some which include both physical workout AND diet recommendations.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Great thread, a great addition would be to edit the first post and include some helpful book suggestions ... maybe some which include both physical workout AND diet recommendations.

Good idea. I'll dig around and see what I can come up with.