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After some prodding from a friend, I am starting myself. I've been having knee problems for a while now and the doctors tell me its mostly because of my weight, (260, 5'11") so I want to loose some, and have found my upper body strength is pathetic. Its a weird experience for someone who hasn't been inside a gym since high school.
Weird thing I'm finding is my appetite is down to maybe a 1/8 of what it used to be. which I've told can happen, but it should come back rather quickly.
Why did you lose your appetite?
I've been told its normal when you go from couch potato to a program of regualr exercise. Its back now, but I find I simply don't want to eat as much. It might just be in my head more than anything..
Good luck! Just make sure to never skip a workout. Skipping one day a week quickly leads to skipping two, then three, then before you know it you haven't done anything for a few weeks and the rhythm is lost. Keep it a part of your daily routine among eating, sleeping, and shitting and you will be fine.
Someone I run into time to time at work said that I should let him know if I ever want to climb for free at the rock gym he works at. I'd like to take him up on this, but want to make good use of the time... what level of fitness should I be at before attempting climbing? I'll admit, I'm pretty weak in the upper-body department. It has been years since I've even touched weights; lately I've only done body-weight exercises.
There will be stuff for all skill levels, definitely take him up on his offer and go check it out.
I've only played around a little with climbing, but it pretty rad.
I've recently sped up my workouts, while still sticking to the Max-OT style. Now I rest no longer than 90 seconds between sets- before this, I would plod for several minutes at times to make sure I was at maximum strength for each lift. Oddly enough, my strength isn't affected all that much by the reduced recovery time, but I do feel the greater drain on my endurance, which is good. I really feel like I'm "working out" now as opposed to just lifting weights. My pumps are amazing.
Also, I recently adopted High Intensity Interval Training for my cardio. The whole premise of HIIT training is that sticking to a regular pace when doing cardio for extended periods places your body into a "steady state" where it seeks to conserve energy (calories), which can defeat the purpose of doing cardio to begin with. With HIIT training, you vary the pace and intensity of your cardio throughout the session, not giving your body a chance to adapt.
Basically, you warm up for a few minutes, then sprint all-out for 30 seconds, then walk for 30 seconds (or 60 if you need a bit more recovery time). You alternate back and forth, sprinting and walking, for anywhere between 15-20 minutes. I've been doing it for the past 2 weeks and I'm already seeing big improvements in my bodyfat and endurance. It's the shit.
Don't even be like that. It's climbing. Go climb that shit and get stronger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tones
Fair enough. I'll try it out within the next two weeks.
Edit: Going next Wednesday. Excited, I am.
Also: I've been keeping up with my running really well so far. I feel awesome. Over the last few months people who haven't seen me in a while have noticed that I have lost weight; that's a great feeling. I was 161 or 162 last summer. After Thanksgiving dinner I was around 152, and I know I'm down a little bit from that.
I really wish there was a fucking place to do climbing around me, that's like my favorite shit in the world. I'm still like a kid where climbing stuff is just something I do if it looks like I can get somewhere interesting.