Gamer exercise

Reading this thread makes me want to get back in the gym. I was hitting the gym 5 times per week at one point (which was crazy since I've never used to be much for being active) and made some pretty terrific strides in strength and overall body transformation. However, after messing up my left shoulder (I was hitting the gym way too hard and didn't listen to the body), I took some time off. Once I got back into it I scaled down and tried to hit the gym smarter and things worked better than ever. But somehow a lot of other things have taken up my time since the year started and I've been away from it for way too long. It's at a point now where I can physically feel a lot of my progress is starting to deteriorate, not to mention gaining back weight in areas I was finally getting somewhat under control.

Ah well, keep on working hard and thanks for the inspiration!

Any fitness minded people who can give me a bit of encouragement? Feeling kinda down right now because it feels like I am being defeated, have been bouncing back and forth fighting Plantar Fasci in both feet, recovery isn't proceeding at a reasonable pace, doctors orders to wear a bulky boot at all times for 3 weeks and avoid running(not that I could run in this bulky thing). I need some suggestions on ways I can hopefully do an equivalent level of upper body work outs during this time, I have a Total Gym, but haven't used it very much, different barbells in 3 /5 /7 /9 pound varieties. When I was running I had built up to completing 7 miles with the 7 pound weights, so I felt like that has assisted in building a quality amount of muscle in upper body, but I never really made the muscle aspect of my routine a goal. I just liked running, without the weights I had hit a personal best of 10 miles in 98:30 , which I know isn't super great compared to many people, but I am just sitting here feeling sorry for myself at the moment cause it looks like the next 3 weeks are going to wreck much of the positive progress I have made since July. A larger question may be does anyone have experience managing plantar fasci and recovering from it? If I could just get this fully healed it would solve all my problems.

@wolfgame:

Plantar Fascitis ain't no joke man. Professional baseball player Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals (arguably the best player in the game in the last decade) has struggled mightily with it, you might check to see how he deals with it.

One thing I know a lot of people with joint/bone problems do to maintain fitness is hit the pool. Check with your doctor first, but swimming is a great way to burn calories without weights and without stressing your joints.

Hope that helps and good luck!

I went from around 158 to 134 lbs (with clothes on) just by eating less junk food (still eat it, just less) after a few weeks (maybe two months or less, don't remember exactly). So yeah, even a slightly better diet can lead to pretty good results. Although I used to eat ice cream practically every day and now it's quite rare for me to have any, so you might consider that a big change.

On the exercise front, I did some cardio during summer, but eventually went off of it. Once winter is completely done with, I'll see if I can weather the rain and get out there again. Outside of that, I've been on and off with some calisthenics exercises. Currently I'm on and will try to keep going and add more exercises to the mix. I saw some results before I stopped the last time, but adding another area of the body to work out will probably help motivate me.

@slag: Thanks for your advice, I really do appreciate it, I have kinda gotten past the "feeling sorry for myself" aspect of this and am trying to look at it a bit more positively. I can use this as an opportunity to do some different things with my exercise routine, as you mentioned swimming. Which is something I hadn't previously considered, gonna meet with my doctor on Tuesday to bounce that idea and some other possible alternatives that would be effective but have a low chance of impacting the plantar recovery.

Probably gonna show him this recent article from CBS also, report suggesting that the ideal duration for running is 2 and a half hours a week, considering that most health and fitness professionals recommend 60 minutes of exercise a day, I am not sure how they have reached these conclusions in their study. I was running 35+miles per week I can guarantee I was exceeding 2 and a half hours. This is the frustrating part about finding helpful fitness information, ya end up finding so much conflicting information.

@wolfgame:

My pleasure man! Hope it goes well for you.

Assuming your doctor says it is safe. If you give it swimming chance and stick with it, I think you'll quickly understand why Swimmers can eat so much food without gaining a ton of weight. That sport turns your stomach into a burning cauldron of fire. There are a lot of runners

The flipside to that of course is that makes it hard to quit swimming regularly, since the appetite sticks with you far longer than the metabolism does

If you do try swimming go slow at first, since you've been running your muscles will need time to adapt. Swimming is an anaerobic sport vs the aerobic sport of running. Both change your muscular shape in opposite ways. Running long distance tends to lengthen you out, swimming tends to bulk you up and add definition. So don't over exert yourself right away, you could be at risk of a muscle pull or worse yet tear if you aren't careful.

The key to making swimming work long term is learning how to do flip turns. Once your stamina is built up enough, flip turns allow you to basically never stop until you are more or less ready to be done. And that's when you can start the feel the rhythm like you probably do with running.

I've never been a music listener when exercising, but if you are I do believe there are underwater safe ipods etc.

I hear you about fitness and nutrition advice. There is a ton of mis and disinformation out there, not to mention get fit quick scams and corporate sponsored research. It's a real problem in today's society, the fad of the moment (crossfit) seems like one to me that could be headed for disaster. I was a guy who used to crosstrain for different sports a lot and I can tell you have to be careful when doing that. A lot of muscles don't like being strengthened in opposing directions simultaneously.

This is something where asking your doctor is still probably best. She/he will likely know what is best for your given situation and isn't trying to sell you anything.

Anyway good luck!

My personal regimen is the 12 ounce lift. After about 8 beers you will really start to see results. Trust me...............................

I am at the end of my second month now. I didn't get the same results as the first month, but diminishing returns seems to be the name of the game. I'm down to 234, which means my running total is about 16lbs. I still have about 45lbs left to go until my goal, and I'm coming to realize it might be about a year until I get to that goal. I have dropped about one pants size and my leg muscles are nice and hard. And you know what else is hard? My biceps, you pervs. I'm developing tiny little lumps, not really what I'd call guns or anything, but they have lost the flab, in general. My neck has pulled up a bit, too, but not by much.

I've pretty happy with these results, even if they are slow going. It's helped my energy levels too. My diet isn't too bad since I focused more on portion control instead of cutting things out completely. I have taken out soda and only drink beer two or three times a month, and not to excess. Plus, I've been drinking those miller 64 calories beers, which are pretty much beer flavored water. I've cut back severely on carbs, almost never having bread, but I'll still have pasta now and then. It's oatmeal and berries almost every morning, though. Generally, a small salad or a can of soup does me for lunch and then whatever I want for dinner so long as it's real food, not processed crap, and so long as it's small. (i.e: Pizza never more than two smaller slices, Pasta never more than a cup worth, etc.) I straight up serve myself at the table with a measuring cup, and it's really helped keep me honest on portions.) I cheat now and then, like I had a snack sized Doritos the other day, or some fried chicken last week, but my appetite has shrunk due to the portion control and so even when I pig out, I'm not really pigging out.

I'm about to move out of this spot I'm at now, which means the exercise bike isn't coming with me, so I've gonna have to kind some other way to get an hour of cardio in. My lungs still can't jog (I can ride a bike forever, but can't jog for more than 2 minutes), so I'm thinking some jazzercize or something. Something to burn about 500 calories a day. I don't want to go to a gym, as I've mentioned before in this thread, because I dislike the attitudes of most the people I've encountered at many gyms I've tried in the past.

Anyway, that's the update from the OP. See you again in a month or so.

@aelric: Thanks for sharing this exercise plan! I'm training for a 5K in July and it should make a good supplement to my routine.