What did you do today?

[fastortoise]

I got a free shirt from my gym.. but its the exact same as the one people who work there wear so I'm asked questions sometimes. Which is awkward, because I'm either lifting weights or severely out of breath so its hard to answer.

Also, lost ~8 lbs by cutting back on fried foods. Now, if I could only cut back the beer... :wall: I'd have <5% body fat or something crazy.

[jimmy_jim]

I wish my gym gave me free stuff :(

 

Hit a crazy annoying plateau, haven't gone up in bench at all for 2 months, but my squat and dead lift have gone up

[stevepole]

Signed up for this intro to crossfit class/session for saturday. Finally getting around to seeing what it's all about.

[Ouchy]

Be careful with cross fit, they can teach you horrible form which will just injure you.

[stevepole]

It's one of the top crossfit gyms in the area so I don't imagine they're teach bad form. The place also specializes in their own special endurance crossfit program called SpeedX which is what I'm mostly interested in.

[stevepole]

I just got back from the intro to crossfit class. Right off the bat, I liked the community/team aspect. The workout itself isn't much different from my own as far as the muscle groups that are worked, but it is done in more faster pace which makes it a bit more challenging.

[jimmy_jim]

I just got back from the intro to crossfit class. Right off the bat, I liked the community/team aspect. The workout itself isn't much different from my own as far as the muscle groups that are worked, but it is done in more faster pace which makes it a bit more challenging.

I don't really understand crossfit, is it just a lot of squats/cleans/deadlifts/bench?

[stevepole]

I just got back from the intro to crossfit class. Right off the bat, I liked the community/team aspect. The workout itself isn't much different from my own as far as the muscle groups that are worked, but it is done in more faster pace which makes it a bit more challenging.

I don't really understand crossfit, is it just a lot of squats/cleans/deadlifts/bench?

 

Basically but some things are slightly modified and I felt like every workout involved some sort of aerobic movement. There was a lot of focus on endurance more then there was on strength.

[muggiwhplar]

I didn't know crossfit gyms had free weights.

 

One of my old bosses was training to become a firefighter, and all of the training he did was crossfit because it gives you "functional" strength... meaning, strength that will actually benefit you in realistic situations.

 

He made it sound like all the training methods they used were things like flipping tractor tires. I think the only weights they used were kettle bells.

[stevepole]

There were like a tiny rack of free weights in they're kickboxing room but I didn't notice any in the main room. They're were kettle balls, bars & weights to do cleans & medicine balls. A couple rowing machines too. That's all that I remember.

[muggiwhplar]

btw... have any of you read the 4 hour body? if so, have you tried any of the things mentioned in the book?

[Estonian dude]

Been biking 40 miles/60 km's per day for the last 2 week. During those weeks, my 20 mile/30 km time has improved by 20 minutes... Just amazing. Today I managed to outbike a bus on a 12 km stretch. That was in the city though, near rush hour. Although there is no such rush hour here, since our city is so small. But still, I feel very proud of myself ;)

[Kalphite]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this as I dont think it's big enough to warrant it's own thread, but is it safe to run multiple days in a row or should you wait a day in between like when exercising muscle groups? I've been waiting a day in between, but I've noticed that my legs are never sore the next day after a run. Still wanted to check here before I end up hurting myself though.

[Ouchy]

I see no harm in it. Your legs may hurt at first as they are not used to it, but after a week or less, they will be accustomed to it, and they shouldn't hurt.

[muggiwhplar]

I've always hated back/bicep day because I thought it was boring. I hate doing bicep curls (I think they're pointless), and I'm afraid I'm going to severely injure myself if I try and increase my deadlift strength.

 

Though I recently set a new goal of doing a one-armed pull-up... so now back/bicep day is my favorite :D Anyways...

 

I was warming up at the gym this morning by doing one-armed pull-ups on the machine with a pulley-assistance seat set at 100 lbs... meaning I was doing pull-ups while weighing 100 lbs less than normal. A girl across the room kept staring at me while I was warming up. Eventually she grabbed her boyfriend and they both started staring at me while his jaw dropped open.

 

...then I realized they couldn't tell that I was using the assistance seat :lol:

[Ouchy]

Hate back/bicep day? Hate doing curls? You are my favourite type of person. I hate people at the gym that only ever do curls. Props to you.

[jimmy_jim]

I love back day! Biceps not so much, I should give them more attention but it feels like most exercises use biceps so I tend to just do 3x12-15 hammer curls at the end of a back workout

[fastortoise]

Yeah, I don't feel like bicep curls are necessary at all. Some people I see every time I go to the gym and every time I see them do bicep curls and it makes me cringe. Back and leg day is my 2nd favourite, after tricep and chest day.

[stevepole]

Yeah, I've basically stopped doing bicep curls all together as of late. I've never liked them and it's never really been an important muscle for me.

[Ouchy]

People that curl in the squat rack are the worst though. One of the worst culprits that does it at my gym also wears one of those Zyzz like shirts that literally have no side's, so that's a good reason to why he would do it.

[stevepole]

I hate people who use the squat racks for things other then squats, especially when my current gym only has two. Sometimes I have to result to using those pre-weighted bars so I can only do about half my normal weight so I can clear the bar over my head.. <.<

[Duff]

I'm 6'1", weighing in at 188 pounds. And it's all in my legs. I have a pretty small torso and have no chest mass and not much in my arms either. But my legs are like freakin balloons, haha. And I've always been really self-conscious about them. So i've been trying to find a way to get rid of some muscle mass (and fat, I guess) in my legs. Frankly, I look pretty odd with a 'skinny' torso and a bigger lower body. During the first part of the summer, I biked a shit ton. It felt better on my knees and I enjoyed it more. I would bike upwards to 15 miles a day around my town every day. Then, I learned that biking is probably the worst thing to do for your legs if you are wanting to lose muscle mass on them (or at least that's what a few articles said). Turns out biking gives you pretty big legs, which makes sense, since I've loved biking and have always done it since I was a kid (hence, that explains my big legs).

 

So, I've gotten into 'marathon cardio'. For the past six weeks (before I knew about the biking thing), I was running for 30 minutes every day on the treadmill, doing hills, etc. It was a rather short but intense workout. Now, I'm working on extending my time and simply running on an shallow incline (2.5 according to the treadmill). Last week I did 45 minutes every day since I didn't want to jump from 30 minutes to an hour. But now, this week I think I'm gonna try an hour up until Wednesday and then for the second half of the week go for an hour and fifteen minutes. I guess I'm hoping to slowly progress up to two hours. And hopefully by the time my internship ends (three weeks from now), I'll have lost a desireable amount of muscle mass in my legs, which means (yeah, it sounds [bleep]ing girly, sue me) I'll be more comfortable in my skinny jeans. At the moment, they hug the crap out of my calves which is irritating. Plus, on the whole, I'll feel better about myself, which is what it's all about. :thumbup:

[jimmy_jim]

You want to lose muscle mass in your legs (and in turn the rest of your body)? I really don't understand why. Also, why are your legs so much bigger than the rest of your body that it makes you self conscious? Are you sure it's just not fat? You weigh 10kgs more than I do at 6'2

 

What is your diet like?

[Duff]

Well, I've read that 'overtraining' (marathon cardio) gets rid of fat throughout the body but you only lose muscle mass in your legs since they are the parts being 'overtrained'. Again, this is just what I read. I would really like to lose fat on my body (whatever there is) and slim down my legs.

 

Also, why are your legs so much bigger than the rest of your body that it makes you self conscious?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. I've biked a lot in the past, which apparently (so i've read) builds muscle mass in the thighs. I also avoided bench and arm workouts while i was in high school because i've got something funky going on with my shoulders which makes benching pretty scary (lots of popping in my shoulders, sometimes painful). So i worked my legs quite a bit (especially the calves). This was for football. I'm not sure that it isn't fat, but i have a hard time believing it is. I've always been active, doing sports, running, biking, etc. And when i flex my thighs and calves they're pretty defined. My upper body is lean to the point where i'm convinced the majority of my weight is coming from my thighs and calves.

 

Well, for the past few months, I've been eating the following: yogurt, pb&j sandwiches (lunch at work; i don't load it up with peanut butter), turkey and cheese sandwiches (no condiments), grapes, apples, oranges, carrots, eggs, string cheese, and i have some granola bars that i snack on from time to time. I occasionally eat some beef/vegetable canned soup or some ramen just because i bought it earlier this summer and I'm not just gonna throw it away. I'll admit, during the school year i wasn't really really good with eating well. But its been a while and i've been extremely active. Also, I weighed somewhere around 180 at the end of this school year (August). I've been eating much healthier since then. I don't see how i gained weight. I'm pretty unhappy with it. It seems like whatever fat may have been on my legs at the end of the school year would be gone by now or have greatly been burned since i've been more active this summer than any previous summer after high school.

 

I could be wrong. But wouldn't marathon cardio attack both fat and muscle in my legs? Cause overall, i'd like to slim down my legs.

[Jeffwilson99]

I have pretty big legs too, but I guess I'm a bit more balanced up the top too though. Have you thought about working your upper body to balance it out?