[modi123_1]

Folks, after a lovely bout of holistic discussion I realized we are sorely lacking in a thread for motivation to get up and get active. The general perception pushed is the average geek is some pudgy pinnacle of ill health. Surrounded with soda cans, instant noodles, and pizza boxes. Let's band together and get the positive vibe flowing and achieve some goals!

Let's use this thread as a place to discuss goals, timelines, what worked for us, what isn't working, major demotivators, road blocks, and success stories.

As we probably all know it's not the sudden weight loss or buffness that's important - it's the sustainability.

We have the rest of June, July, August, and most of September. That should be enough time to affect some positive change!

Who's with me?

Historical thread 2010

A bit of motivational music:

Spoiler

Resources:
http://hundredpushups.com/
http://www.twohundredsitups.com/
http://www.twohundredsquats.com/
Mike Rowe: Burpees
Basic Excercises Explained
http://fitness.scoob...p.com/index.htm

Recipes
Brotastic Oatmeal

This post has been edited by modi123_1: 13 August 2011 - 08:58 AM

[souptoy]

I cycle on average 40 miles a week pushing 18-20mph. I also lost weight a while back running about 6 miles every other day and drinking a lot of water and watching what I ate.

It sucks at first but eventually you hate yourself for not doing it.

Major road blocks when running was my toes started to hurt...been wanting to try those running shoes that look like gloves for your feet but haven't had the money to buy them yet.

Anyone have tips on building upper body strength that's worked for them?

[modi123_1]

Upper body strength? Honestly I found pushups to work the best. 100pushups still has a pretty solid routine. If you are in gym dumbbell/free weights in an incline bench over a flat bench and bar.

[v0rtex]

I skate (board) and surf a lot. Mainly because I started both of those sports when I was young and really like them, gives me most of the exercise I need. I try skate everyday and well surfing is conditional on the weather.

@ souptoy: pushups work, although I find varying upper body strength workouts helps to well relieve boredom as well, here is a link I found: Push-ups exercises.
EDIT: Some of those seem rather extreme lol, The Diamond and clap pushup are decent.

This post has been edited by v0rtex: 16 June 2011 - 02:15 PM

[modi123_1]

In the last six months I've moved to a more bland and strict lunch diet. Where my old job had the most bomb ass kitchen and chef staff I was perpetually assaulted by bad ass food. Where I am now in a place that has a near Fallout: New Vegas-esque kitchen.

So I bring my lunch to work. Two pieces of whole grain white bread (yeah yeah should be wheat.. maybe next loaf), two pieces of turkey (processed because it's way cheaper), mustard/mayo, an apple, yogurt, and a little thing of chips (empty cals are fun).

So far it's actually working pretty well. A slow erosion of the gut is pleasant.

I've been really slacking with hitting the gym and I think I'll start jog/walking a mile or so when not at the gym. After that lovely plane flights to (and from) Cleveland I am going to battle my self disgust and loathing with a re-dedication to the gym and some cardio.

@v0rtex - you bastard kids! I was thinking about picking up skateboarding a year back but realized I am too damn old to be that injured. Though with all the massive flooding in my area I am certain I can find a mild wave!

[souptoy]

modi123_1, on 16 June 2011 - 02:16 PM, said:

Where I am now in a place that has a near Fallout: New Vegas-esque kitchen.

Your work sells Brahmin Steak!?

[v0rtex]

@ modi123_1: Haha, if you are not too amped on skateboarding, try surfing if you have a beach located nearby with a nice swell. Surfing is very low impact unless you go for some bigger waves but that is all up to you Although as for learning skateboarding, my brother to whom is turning 30 this year still skates with me alot although he also started when he was young (around 14)...

This post has been edited by v0rtex: 16 June 2011 - 02:28 PM

[maniacalsounds]

Do they have a script for physical activity? xD

Haha, jk. I'm on a baseball and volleyball team... it keeps me fit and busy to say the least.

I like this idea

[hookiethe1]

5 years ago I went from working heavy construction to running maintenance at a resort, and then a little over a year ago I left that to sit in a cubicle and during that time, especially the last year, my physical condition has gotten steadily worse.

A bit over a month ago I started getting up at 4:30 instead of 5 and getting my ass on the horrible elliptical machine(unfortunately, my feet are as flat as pancakes so I can't just get out and run my ass around the block, even when I was fit I couldn't run to save my life). The first day I hacked and wheezed my way through 2 miles, now I'm doing 5 miles every day, takes about 25 minutes.
As far as eating, my wife always had that pretty well under control, I have a tub of fat free yogurt, a boiled egg, and a cup of granola with 1% milk for breakfast, during the day at work I have some cut up raw veggies, a little container of trail mix that she makes, a container of fruit, and a no dressing salad with either shrimp or chicken breast. She usually cooks pretty healthy for dinner too. The only difference to my diet since I started exercising is that I don't augment it with gas station food anymore, which does take a little willpower since I'm on the road over 2 hours every day.

Since I started that I've tightened my belt up by a hole, and another one is well on the way. At the moment I'm taking summer classes so I'm struggling to hit 30 hours of work a week, but when they're over and I'm back on 40 hours a week I'll start hitting the work gym in the afternoons too and either do more cardio or some weights.

[modi123_1]

That's anther problem of mine - f'n time. Up at 700am, work until 5pm, and between house work, drawing, trying to write some code, and dealing with family archival work, and drinking it gets hard to divie up my time.

My new theory is f'g it and prioritize either a run/yog or gym time first.

[creativecoding]

I tried to lose some weight by going on a lo-carb diet. It was pretty easy at first. I munched on pure meats and stuff for a few days. Did some situps and pushups when I could. But then the withdrawals came in. I could only eat about 30 grams of carbs a day (to give you a measurement, one small, healthy, breakfast bar has about 30 carbs). The diet included NOTHING sweet, white, or bread.

Eventually I just gave in from a lack of willpower. I never kept track of my weight but my pants started to be more loose. I may start it again.


Oh just a tip: I bought these protein bars because they are full of protein and other crap that's good for you and they advertised it as good tasting. It's not. Shit taste like they mixed a bunch of powder and dipped it in nasty black-dyed glue.

This post has been edited by creativecoding: 16 June 2011 - 03:02 PM

[souptoy]

I like how you referenced drinking in there haha. Time is definitely the key. I would bike to work if we had a shower here. That'd be something like 30 miles a day round trip...oh well.

I go to bed way too late to wake up at 4am to do a work out...maybe I'll try doing it though. Always feel really good afterwards...but sometimes fall asleep, too.

More power to you hookiethe1, diet is a killer thing to keep up with, especially when there isn't time to cook.

[NeoTifa]

I predict Xerxes will show up by page 3. Who's with me?

30 mins cardio before work, p90x in evening. Just starting, so no results yet.

[supersloth]

i consistently hit the gym 5-6 days a week. alternating arms and chest with legs. arms is usually free weights, doing curls, bench press, inclined bench press, tricep press, and other odds and ends.

legs are usually just a shit ton of squats and deadlifts. hate that stuff.

and every day includes a mile or two of cardio, and some core stuff, depending on what's available. i have asthma though, so cardio is BULLSHIT.


the hard stuff is the diet, i am just now starting to get that under control.

[EnvXOwner]

I'm sorry but "physical activity" hasn't been added to my dictionary.

sudo apt-get install physical_activity

Now that I've installed that, I may run around the block some