New Year Health Resolutions..

Whats your NY resolution(s) to be more healthy?

Mine is ..
Lose 10 pounds and 'MAINTAIN IT' (which has been so hard)
Start running/jogging regularly
Make sure to warm-up before you play (harder than it seems)
Finally, EAT healthy (this I'm afraid will be the hardest)

If I can be as fit as I felt last year I'll be happy.

I usually take off from November and December from pretty much anything physical. I gain a few pounds but enjoy the time off to let the body heal. Then in Janunary I lift heavy and eat a lot. I'll gain about 10 pounds from Jan. - March. Then at the end of March i start more of the endurance training. I'll run and bike like crazy, while lifting as well. By April I'll be pestering everyone I can to come out and play tennis with me. By May I'll be very ready for the local group of doubles and if our singles ladder actually occurs this year I'll be more than ready. It's been my routine for the last three years and is working quite well.

rk_sports said:

Lose 10 pounds and 'MAINTAIN IT' (which has been so hard)

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I think it's healthier to think in terms of bodyfat - if you lost 10 pounds of bodyfat but gained 10 pounds of muscle, I'd hazard a guess that you're appearance would be drastically changed.

And with more muscle mass, you'd be able to maintain your weight goals a lot easier.



I've always found that goals are more easier to follow if they're specific ...

rk_sports said:

Start running/jogging regularly

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How fast, how far, and how often? 3 miles in less than 25 minutes, 3 times a week?

rk_sports said:

Make sure to warm-up before you play (harder than it seems)

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Do you have a specific, defined, warm-up routine?

rk_sports said:

Finally, EAT healthy (this I'm afraid will be the hardest)

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What does "eat healthy" mean to you? Three meals, two snacks a day, with protein and fibre at each meal?

Well, mine is ...

(1) do 100 burpees in less than 7 minutes (currently takes me about 8 1/2)
(2) deadlift 2.5x bw, squat 2x bodyweight, bench 1.5x bodyweight, pullup with 0.5 bw added, perform a handstand pushup (pretty close on the deadlift, squat and pullup, but a long way from the bench and handstand pushup).

I reckon if I can do these things, I'd have to have my sleep, recovery, diet all in order.

I've decided to back away from the tequila.

I also threw all of the candy in the house into the trash can.

It's for my own good . . .

The Watchman said:

I think it's healthier to think in terms of bodyfat - if you lost 10 pounds of bodyfat but gained 10 pounds of muscle, I'd hazard a guess that you're appearance would be drastically changed.

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You act as if this would be easy to do.

My goal is to lose 30 more pounds of bodyfat (I've already lost 20 lbs.). I "should" be able to do this by June 1. That's the goal anyway.

r2473 said:

You act as if this would be easy to do.

My goal is to lose 30 more pounds of bodyfat (I've already lost 20 lbs.). I "should" be able to do this by June 1. That's the goal anyway.

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thats awesome!! keep melting fat away.

This are my goals:

gain 7 pounds of lean muscle mass(especially the legs).
jog 10 km and jump rope for 30 minutes.
be faster but first i need to record my 100 mt sprints

r2473 said:

"But gained 10 pounds of muscle" <- You act as if this would be easy to do.

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Hmmm, nowhere here or in other posts have I suggested gaining muscle - or losing fat for that matter - is an easy thing to do. (If either were, I'm sure those late night advertisements for the latest ab gadget would be a thing of the past.)

However, it takes "only" a change in lifelong habits (yes, a very hard thing to do - something no doubt you can attest to from your own body recomposition efforts - nice progress, btw).

And I'm not sure how you've managed to see how I 'act' (are you stalking me?!?).

Merely trying to make the point that maybe it's healthier to pay less attention to the scale tis all ...

^^ My mistake. You just seemed to throw out "gain 10 pounds of muscle" like it was no big thing. But, now I see that I simply read the tone of your post incorrectly.

And the comment hit close to home. I just gained 15 pounds of muscle over about a 15 month period (and it was a bear for me). Now I have to lose all the fat I gained in the process. I wouldn't be so bad, but when I started, I gained about 20 pounds of fat and no muscle at all (Guess I didn't have a clue what I was doing). After that I gained about 2 pounds of fat for each pound of muscle. Not great, but not that bad either (at least I don't think so).

As an aside, testing for muscle gain is pretty tough to do. The university where I work has a "bod-pod" machine, which is as accurate as hydro-stat. Even at that, the first time I tested I had gained about 20 lbs. LBM. This test was done in the afternoon after eating breakfast and lunch, but fasting for 3 hours. I decided to go in 3 months later and retest. This time I tested in the morning after fasting for 15 hours and making sure I "expelled" everything possible before the test. This time I only showed a 15 lb. LBM increase. In reality, I may have gained a bit more than 15 lbs. LBM as my test from 15 months ago was also done in the afternoon (so that was probably a bit high). But, whatever. The challenge will be to retain all of the muscle while I lose the fat. It will be a relatively slow process, but I think I can get it done in 5 or 6 more months.

Anyway, no offense intended "Watchman".

ok, let me go ahead and ask at the possibility of sounding like a deuche

Is weight lifting the only way to gain muscle?

10 years ago my NY resolution was to stop drinking soft drinks. I haven't had a soft drink of any kind since 12/31/1999. Nothing but water and OJ for me now. This year I am giving up sweets (cookies, candy, ice cream, chocolate, etc. I remember how hard giving up soft drinks was so I know this is going to be hard but it will be worth it. Good luck to everybody on their resolutions!

rk_sports said:

Is weight lifting the only way to gain muscle?

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I read this article, which might help answer your question: http://startingstrength.com/articles/novice_effect_rippetoe.pdf

It seems that working out with a fork is the most important (ie caloric surplus) followed by some kind of stimulus to ensure the body doesn't use those surplus calories as a store of future energy (ie fat).

This can be "weights" or any other kind of resistance (eg gymnasts don't use weights very much at all in their training, but are obviously muscular).

Goal is to be able to do 50 push-ups straight without stopping.

My resolution is the same as last year.
Work out, play tennis, and eat right enough to be in shape.
If a nagging ache starts, take enough time off to let the inflammation subside, then start back slowly.
Use my experience to know when too much is too much, and when I can still hit the gas pedal harder.
Right now with less tennis in the winter, it's more time spent working out.
Learn as much as I can about injury prevention, most of it generated from this forum.