Rockinmage Exercises - Corey's Fitness Journey

[Rockinmage]

In case some of you have missed Keith's thread with a very similar title, this was inspired by him.

- My reasons for this thread are essentially the same as Keith's, as it makes a lot of sense. A public log such as this encourages me to keep at it, and hopefully it will inspire others while on their own personal fitness journey.

A little background on me. My name is Corey, I'm 23, married, and to be honest I've never been overweight a day in my life. But for those of you that aren't aware, someone that is not overweight is not necessarily a fit or healthy person. I'm 5'10" and weighed 162.4lbs when I stepped on the scale this morning. But lets back it up a bit...

Warning: There is a lot of rambling in the following paragraphs. I almost went back and deleted it all, but it took so long to type I went ahead and left it. Feel free to skip to the section labeled "Today:" if you aren't up for a lot of reading.

I would say that my personal fitness journey began when my dad bought me a mountain bike so I could ride with him. I don't exactly how old I was, likely somewhere around 12 years old. We conveniently lived near one of the top rated mountain bike trails in the country (U.S.A., by the way). I remember about 7 miles into the 10 mile trail on my first ride I was both emotionally and physically broken. But, my dad pushed me to the finish and I would say that is the day I became a mountain biker. In the years since, I've grown to love the trail and have rode hundreds of miles on it, if not thousands. Over the years I've drifted back and forth, in and out of the sport of cycling. On the road, in the woods, triathlons, I've done a bit of it all. My dad has always been a fitness inspiration for me. I've seen him go from running 5k's and beginner triathlons to marathons and Ironmans. Now would be a good time to mention that fellow WG member "J Poole" is my cousin, and that his dad (my uncle) is also an Ironman veteran and another inspiration to me. I've done some running as well, having completed a half marathon a couple of years ago. I would like to someday go to do a full marathon. I've had people ask me if I'd ever complete an Ironman man, and to be honest I'm not sure if I'd ever want to go for that or not. I've never been a fan of the swim leg of triathlons, it has always been my weakness. Sure I can swim, I'm just not a good distance swimmer. And for those, that don't know, the swim portion of an Ironman is 2.4 miles long.

But enough of that. Time to answer the age old question, "Do you even lift?". Today, no. About 18 months ago I was at the gym lifting for a couple of hours 5 nights a week. I had a dedicated gym partner and we never missed a night. Fast forward a few months, I got married and moved to the next town over and never re-developed the habit. I've acquired some home gym equipment (weights, bench, ect) and was starting to get back into the swing of things, and was then interrupted when I had to have shoulder surgery. I had to have the surgery because my shoulder was repeatedly dislocating after it failed to properly heal after a mountain bike accident a year or so ago. The surgery put me in a sling for 6 weeks and prevented me from mountain biking, lifting, ect for 3 months. Thankfully, I am now passed that and am very much interested in getting back to a health and fit lifestyle.

Today: These days I'm mountain biking as often as I can, which right now seems to be once every week and a half or two. I'm limited by when I have someone to ride with, as I'm hesitant to go at it alone again after being stuck laying on my back for a while and then then having to be carried out of the woods once I finally got someone's attention. Hopefully I can find more people to ride with, and get out there more often. It's a shame that I have a wicked new bike that is barely being ridden.



Aside from mountain biking, I'm also 6 days into a program that will end with me being able to do 100 consecutive pushups. 6 weeks or so ago I couldn't do any (after my surgery), so I'm pretty proud of the non-consecutive 80 pushups I did this evening.

Future Goals:
1.) Put the gym equipment I have at home to use. - There is really no excuse for not lifting when you have actual gym equipment in your house.
2.) Possibly get back into running. - My current excuse is that it's over 90 degrees Fahrenheit just about every day during the summer here, if not 100+. However, this is something that would really help my mountain biking, due to the aerobic aspect of it.
3.) Consider investing into a road bike. If I had a road bike I'd be able to ride more often, as there are more people around here that ride on the road then their are those that ride in the woods. I've got my eye on one, I've just not figured out how to afford it yet, ha.

Well, that is enough for tonight's update. You can count on tomorrow's being MUCH shorter.

[Al]

contrary to what you think there's actually people that take the time to read posts :)

good stuff! question - what is the 100 pushup program so i can get on it? is it all calisthenic?

[Rockinmage]

It's actually an iPhone app called "PushUps PRO" by Runtastic. It reminds you to do the workouts and counts your pushups as you do them, pretty cool. Pushups are the only thing you do in the program. Each day you have a set amount you do, in various sets. Eventually, you are doing 100 of them in one set. They have similar apps for situps, pullsups, ect.

[Lord Himself]

It's nice to see people taking initiatives to stay fit and healthy.
Good Luck mate :)

[Keith]

Awesome dude, loving this. I've done 2 marathons so far and have grand plans to do an ironman when I can afford to do one - the biggest thing for me would probably be the cost of the race itself, I've been known for training for things i sign up for and jumping up distances very quickly. As far as races go, my longest race was a marathon, and the second longest is 7.1 miles. I've never done a half!

Also, watch out for your wrists in the 100 push-up challenge. I did something similar a while back and i got to like 80 and then my wrists started aching pretty bad so I called it quits.

[Al]

It's actually an iPhone app called "PushUps PRO" by Runtastic. It reminds you to do the workouts and counts your pushups as you do them, pretty cool. Pushups are the only thing you do in the program. Each day you have a set amount you do, in various sets. Eventually, you are doing 100 of them in one set. They have similar apps for situps, pullsups, ect.

Awesome dude I'm getting this. Also think I'm getting that pull-up thing for the door.

[Rockinmage]

Thanks for the posts guys, glad to see there is some interest. I just wrapped up today's workout. It's technically 12:22 AM on Saturday morning, but I'm counting it for Friday. :) This is the first time I have lifted since my surgery (other than some very light stuff during physical therapy). I had some noticeable but what I'd call minor shoulder pain. I feel like it is something that I will just have to work through over time and it will go away, getting me back to 100%. At least, that's what the doctor tells me. I did toy with the idea of starting a pull up program, however I had some pretty intense shoulder pain while hanging from the pull up bar, so I'm going to allow it to heal for at least a few more months before putting that kind of direct stress on it. Tonight's efforts were all focused on chest muscles and I used dumbbells for everything. Without further ado, here is tonight's workout log:



My goals for each set was to lift as much as possible while staying in the defined rep range of 8-12. If I hit 12 reps, I need to do more weight next time. If I don't make 8 reps, I'm doing too much weight. Also, train until failure with every set! Meaning, don't stop until I physically can't lift any longer. This is not a program that I came up with, it is based off of Mark McManus' THT volume program. Out of a free e-book that he offers. Musclehack.com if anyone is interested. One reason I really like Mark is because he focuses on a body type known as a "hard gainer", which essentially defines me. People that have difficulty gaining weight and putting on muscle. Lots of great free info on his website, and it's certainly not just for hardgainers such as myself. Well that's enough for tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.

[Keith]

Thanks for the posts guys, glad to see there is some interest. I just wrapped up today's workout. It's technically 12:22 AM on Saturday morning, but I'm counting it for Friday. :) This is the first time I have lifted since my surgery (other than some very light stuff during physical therapy). I had some noticeable but what I'd call minor shoulder pain. I feel like it is something that I will just have to work through over time and it will go away, getting me back to 100%. At least, that's what the doctor tells me. I did toy with the idea of starting a pull up program, however I had some pretty intense shoulder pain while hanging from the pull up bar, so I'm going to allow it to heal for at least a few more months before putting that kind of direct stress on it. Tonight's efforts were all focused on chest muscles and I used dumbbells for everything. Without further ado, here is tonight's workout log:



My goals for each set was to lift as much as possible while staying in the defined rep range of 8-12. If I hit 12 reps, I need to do more weight next time. If I don't make 8 reps, I'm doing too much weight. Also, train until failure with every set! Meaning, don't stop until I physically can't lift any longer. This is not a program that I came up with, it is based off of Mark McManus' THT volume program. Out of a free e-book that he offers. Musclehack.com if anyone is interested. One reason I really like Mark is because he focuses on a body type known as a "hard gainer", which essentially defines me. People that have difficulty gaining weight and putting on muscle. Lots of great free info on his website, and it's certainly not just for hardgainers such as myself. Well that's enough for tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.

Did you create that graph or is that something you can access online? I like the format!

[Rockinmage]

My logs are a modified version of what is available from Mark at Musclehack:

http://www.musclehack.com/tht-5-workout-logs/

[YumYumMix]

runescape workout is better!
jk jk both are great

[Rockinmage]

Finished up tonight's workout for my pushup program earlier. Even after last night's chest workout I was feeling pretty good and did some extras at the end. 102 total reps. Slowing building up to 100 consecutive. :)

[Rangex]

Keep it up mate, It takes a lot of dedication but will be worth it in the end.

ps: I was wondering if you have heard of P90x or insanity

[Rockinmage]

Keep it up mate, It takes a lot of dedication but will be worth it in the end.

ps: I was wondering if you have heard of P90x or insanity

I've definitely heard of it, but I've never tried it myself. I am sure that if anyone did it and stuck to the program they would get results, but to be honest it doesn't take a special program to get results. If one is trying to lose weight, any proper diet/exercise combination will guarantee results. The same with building muscle.

[Rockinmage]

Update!

Monday 7/8/13: I completed my push up routine as per normal, no big news here

Tuesday 7/9/13: First time on a road bike in several years. I was supposed to meet up with a group for an informal 10 mile time trial event. I certainly didn't expect to go out there and win but I figured that would give me a good idea of "where I'm at". That fell through so I did a 10 mile ride myself. It was approximately 90 degrees with approximately 75% humidity. My average pace was just over 16mph, so that tells me I've got some good room for improvement. My main problem was discomfort on the bike, having to get out an aerodynamic position several times to stretch. But with this being my first ride in several years, on a bike that is not even mine, that is somewhat to be expected. Not to mention it's a cheap Schwinn, but I won't starting blaming the equipment until my physical fitness is more up to par. When I was done, I was drained. It was fun though, I hope to do it again soon.