Working out / health and fitness

7K seems like a weird distance. Don’t think I’ve heard of a 7K before.

How competitive was it? Did they chip you for it?

I don’t know how they landed on that distance - they could have easily made it exactly 7k (or whatever) by moving things around. That sounds obvious, I guess. What I’m trying to say is that there’s not some obvious, rigid, historic course with immovable start and finish lines.

In any event, I agree 7k is a weird distance. The only other comparable race I’ve done is the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago - that one’s 8k (but I think it’s at least measured correctly).

I would not call this race terribly competitive. Overall winner was 25:43 (5:36 pace) which is fine, but my division (old man 45-49) winner was 32:32 (7:05 pace). If I could plausibly (absent the train) win my division, the race is not competitive.

It was chipped, though, via a sticker on the back of the bib. I can’t remember the last time I did an unchipped race. It’s not like it was a long time ago where you got those plastic things you had to tie on your shoes. Now it’s just automatic via the bib sticker.

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Sounds like they’re all chipped these days.

Banging out 7:15 miles is pretty good for an old man at a recreational level. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

8K is basically 5 miles, so I’d think that makes a lot more sense than 7K.

I’ve started only eating a protein shake for dinner (meal replacement thing - has a few carbs). But still working out 4 days/week, walking 4 miles to the gym and back and then hiking on Friday/Sat/Sun.

I hit a WALL today. Felt good to know I hit my calorie limit and my body was going to have to figure out that maybe it should use some of this 70lbs or w/e of fat that it absolutely thinks it needs to save for a rainy day. WELL THE RAINY DAY IS HERE MOTHERFUCKER - START BURNING!

But it was scary too - being completely exhausted on steep shaky terrain. I was way up on some trail trying to find a way through some houses to the road in a spot where slipping could be bad. I was so tired I didn’t wan’t to go back down the steep trail. So I was trying to find a shortcut through some brush when I heard a loud rattle. I was about a foot away from stepping right over a big rattlesnake. Good thing I wasn’t blaring music in my earbuds. No more shortcuts.

Hmm I guess MP4 player doesn’t work?

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need some advice from the patrons of this thread

I’m 5 11’ish currently 177, i had weighed as much as 195-200 early last year. Started counting calories and doing some walking and stuff over a number of months last year and got down to 174, i got off my routine when i moved in may and thats why I’m up a bit now but my goal has been 170. No real reason other than trying to look better and be a bit healthier. I’ve got small thin body overall and most of the extra weight i would say is in my belly which has gotten a good bit better with losing almost 20 lbs but still needs work.

I’m still working on losing weight but really all of that to say that I want to work on getting my upper body in shape. I don’t want to be buff or anything but would like to look good and fit if only for my own mental. I was a runner in highschool and didnt eat enough and really my upper body was very very skinny in highschool and even into college. So I’m basically skinny fat and don’t like the way my upper body looks, my legs etc fit very well with my body.

All of that to say that whats the best way to gain that upper body muscle and look better? I’ve never set foot in a gym. I was reading people in here talk about starting strength and squats and stuff but all of that seems intimidating for sure. Is there something I can do at home with weights or something? any advice would be great. I have my kids every other week so time is pretty free when i dont have them, more constrained when i do but I do work at home so I could go to gym during the day at some point or on lunch if I really wanted to or do stuff at home during the day.

here is a couple pics of my upper body:

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Right now basically anything would work, because you are a beginner. So its all about what you will enjoy and what you will stick with.

Is there any kind of fitness or weights that has appealed to you in the past?

How do you feel about something like cross fit or classes? Are there any gyms near you that seem interesting?

Did you enjoy the cardio part of the training before?

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Just get to doing something regularly to start like Rugby said imo. Kettlebells and dumbbells are effective. Pushups and pullups are even. You can do squats/lunges without weights to start and you will get a workout still. Burpees suck but workout your whole body.

Same height and weight basically in this pic but working out.

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Following up because I feel like the most important thing is getting active somehow. Once you feel the benefits and see the differences you will start to feel like you need to workout. Not only to stick to your plans but once you aren’t sucking air after each workout and feeling like dying, it’s a huge source of just relieving stress.

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If you’ve got the money you might consider getting a trainer. It helped me get into good habits, show up to work out, and learn good form.

But I would definitely recommend going to the gym first, watch the trainers in action, find one that seems to have good energy and is doing the stuff you like. In my case I wanted a trainer that was doing heavy weights.

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Everyone loves to shit on SS, but I think that it would be great for what you want to accomplish.

I think coaching is good. It is so much easier to learn good form from someone in person telling you what to do. The problem is that many coaches don’t really know what good form is. So how the fuck are you supposed to pick one who does, if you don’t know either.

Your best bet is to find some sort of lifting gym and make some inquiries. Getting a trainer from your local globo gym is a complete crapshoot. Maybe you will get someone who knows what they’re doing, maybe you won’t.

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If you’re going to pursue weight training, and its a really great form of exercise, I would suggest getting a one-time session with a trainer. Have him show you a series of exercises that you will want to do in your workout and focus totally on proper form. You don’t want to get hurt, nor do you want to cheat yourself by being out of form.

Then start light and in good form, and work your way up. I think its more important to succeed at the workout you envision than it is to start too heavy and fail at what you’re trying to do. You also don’t want to get too sore at first, as that will demoralize you. There’s going to be some soreness with any weight-training program, but you want it to be manageable and not debilitating.

Find a schedule that works for you, like M-W-F and stick with it. But also build in some wiggle room to change it when life gets in the way. Like M-W-F sometimes turns into M-Th-S etc.

Focus on your weight-lifting goals (like lifting heavier weights over time) and don’t even think about body goals. Your body will take shape as you succeed in your weight-training goals. Move up in weight consistently, but gradually. Like maybe you decide to increase what you’re curling by five pounds, but maybe only on your first set instead of all three. Then next week, add five on your second set, and add five to the third set on week three.

Have a secondary reason for your workouts. In my case, I lift weights because I bowl and I want to have enough strength to throw the ball with some force. You may be incentivized for weight training by considering its positive impact on some other sport that you like.

Okay…that’s enough. When you feel mentally ready to get started, pull the trigger and stick with it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

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Pointy elbows - do not like.

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This is good advice, while it is possible to do a very simple program by yourself if necessary you will get better results with a trainer. If you’re starting as a completely untrained person one thing a (good) trainer will help with is identifying what you shouldn’t try. Things can go pretty bad if you try squatting with inadequate hip mobility or overhead pressing with inadequate shoulder mobility for example.

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It is. SS is a good workout program intertwined with a cult of personality. If you can separate the two then you’re all good.

This just seems suboptimal. I can’t share the video. Notice how he has to duck to keep his head from hitting the ceiling.

How tall is this dude?

From this view it seems like he’d have tons of room above that bar for muscle ups

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQYaonkMYsu/

Normal height. He’s a fairly famous poker/chess player that most here probably know. But I’d rather not type out his name for search reasons - so no guessing pls.

I remember his H&F thread.

He seems to have gotten better results from crossfit from most. And that thread was from a long time ago, so I guess he really stuck with it.

Is there any real science behind muscle-ups? They look pretty out of control to me. Maybe they’re more fun than pullups? (which always helps)

Not sure what you mean by, “real science”.

I’m only seeing stills, but I have no doubt he is kipping the fuck out of them (this was actually a point of discussion in his thread – it was actually kipping pullups, which is the same problem), which is probably not great for the shoulders wrt injury risk (and I think there is some science on this, but not 100% sure).

If done strictly with no kipping (which is rare in the wild), I can’t think of why it wouldn’t be a good exercise. Risk to shoulders is probably far less. But doing even a single strict muscle-up is hard AF. And I’m sure whatever training you need to be able to do to accomplish it is probably fantastic functionally and aesthetically.

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