Less Is More: The Official Becker Fitness Thread

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I usually run on the track behind my high school. The shoes I wear could definetly be the problem. I'll have to bring some running shoes next week and try that.
 
*ow*ow*ow*
I did so many situps it hurts to sneeze!
 
Hey yall. Im not a big poster around here but this is something i feel like i should probably say a word or two on

Some background info. I am 17 years old, and in my junior year of high school. When i was 14 years old in 8th grade, i tore the ACL in my right knee playing football. It was devastating, i could hardly walk for months. Now i had always been a fairly heavy kid, weighing about 220lbs soft and 5'10, but during my months of rehab i absolutely blew up. By the time Freshman year rolled around i was the same height, but i weighed 310lbs. Yup, real lardass here. Long story short, my high school football coach said i had the drive but needed to change my body. So i did. Now, about 2 1/2 years later, im still 5'10, but weight 190lbs with a bodyfat % of 12.4. I squat 325, deadlift 415, and have benched 225 for 6 reps (side note, hurt my shoulder, again playing football, so whenever i go over 225 it dislocates. 225 easy. 230 it pops.) I run a 5:47 mile, and have a 40 yard dash time of 4.8. Along the way i learned a couple things about fitness

1) Diet is honestly 75%of the battle. It can also be the toughest. As a high schooler, my friends mock me for bringing along chicken and rice when i go out. Temptation is everywhere, but to see real results you must have the willpower to turn it down. One way to make this easier is to cook all your meals in advance. Go out, buy in bulk, pick a night, and cook for the week. it saves time and hassle in the long run. Another is to never cheat on your diet. Generally, people say that if 90% of your intake is from clean foods, the remaining 10% wont hurt your progress. while i find this to be true, For me at least, it is mentally tougher to stick to a diet if i eat dirty at all.

2) Weightlifting>Cardio. The more muscle mass your body carries, the more calories you burn. To truly see a change, you must craft yourself anew. Stick with the basic compound movements at first. Bench, squat, Deadlift, Pullups, Press and dips. Do those, train them hard, and over time you will see gains in strength. DONT SKIP LEG TRAINING! Your legs are your strongest muscle, and no other workout taxes your system as much as leg day. Just train em. Ladies are all about big arms, but no one likes chicken legs

3) Dont skip cardio. Yeah i know i said weightlifting is more important. Doesnt mean cardios worthless. Do them both. Weightlift first, then some type of cardio after. Doesnt really matter what kind, just get your heart going.

4) Set small goals. Be realistic and optimistic with your plans. When i was loosing weight, it would of been impossible for me to start at 310 and expect to drop 100+lbs. so, i went in goals of 10. 300lbs,290lbs,280lbs, etc. until i got to the point i needed. Again its a psychological barrier you have to overcome, not a physical one

5) Accept the suck. Losing weight blows. Big time. But in the end its worth it. So cowboy up, pick up the barbell and put down the mountain dew.

If anyone has any questions, shoot me a PM, i would be more than happy to answer anything yall have.
 
nutnfancyfan said:
Hey yall. Im not a big poster around here but this is something i feel like i should probably say a word or two on

Some background info. I am 17 years old, and in my junior year of high school. When i was 14 years old in 8th grade, i tore the ACL in my right knee playing football. It was devastating, i could hardly walk for months. Now i had always been a fairly heavy kid, weighing about 220lbs soft and 5'10, but during my months of rehab i absolutely blew up. By the time Freshman year rolled around i was the same height, but i weighed 310lbs. Yup, real lardass here. Long story short, my high school football coach said i had the drive but needed to change my body. So i did. Now, about 2 1/2 years later, im still 5'10, but weight 190lbs with a bodyfat % of 12.4. I squat 325, deadlift 415, and have benched 225 for 6 reps (side note, hurt my shoulder, again playing football, so whenever i go over 225 it dislocates. 225 easy. 230 it pops.) I run a 5:47 mile, and have a 40 yard dash time of 4.8. Along the way i learned a couple things about fitness

1) Diet is honestly 75%of the battle. It can also be the toughest. As a high schooler, my friends mock me for bringing along chicken and rice when i go out. Temptation is everywhere, but to see real results you must have the willpower to turn it down. One way to make this easier is to cook all your meals in advance. Go out, buy in bulk, pick a night, and cook for the week. it saves time and hassle in the long run. Another is to never cheat on your diet. Generally, people say that if 90% of your intake is from clean foods, the remaining 10% wont hurt your progress. while i find this to be true, For me at least, it is mentally tougher to stick to a diet if i eat dirty at all.

2) Weightlifting>Cardio. The more muscle mass your body carries, the more calories you burn. To truly see a change, you must craft yourself anew. Stick with the basic compound movements at first. Bench, squat, Deadlift, Pullups, Press and dips. Do those, train them hard, and over time you will see gains in strength. DONT SKIP LEG TRAINING! Your legs are your strongest muscle, and no other workout taxes your system as much as leg day. Just train em. Ladies are all about big arms, but no one likes chicken legs

3) Dont skip cardio. Yeah i know i said weightlifting is more important. Doesnt mean cardios worthless. Do them both. Weightlift first, then some type of cardio after. Doesnt really matter what kind, just get your heart going.

4) Set small goals. Be realistic and optimistic with your plans. When i was loosing weight, it would of been impossible for me to start at 310 and expect to drop 100+lbs. so, i went in goals of 10. 300lbs,290lbs,280lbs, etc. until i got to the point i needed. Again its a psychological barrier you have to overcome, not a physical one

5) Accept the suck. Losing weight blows. Big time. But in the end its worth it. So cowboy up, pick up the barbell and put down the mountain dew.

If anyone has any questions, shoot me a PM, i would be more than happy to answer anything yall have.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Congrats on the weight loss.
 
So I ran my first 5K on Saturday. 362 runners in the 5K race. I placed 11th overall and won my age bracket. I also kept a sub-8-minute/mile pace, which was a goal for this first one (24:36 total, 7.55 min/mile). My knee has been tightening up lately, and the pain really kicked in for the last 100 yards or so, which crushed my final push. I don't know what asshole planned a 90-degree turn right before the final uphill finish, but planting and turning at that point just put something over the edge for me. Still, I was happy to meet all my goals even on a bum knee. I had thought I'd go straight into 10K training, but first, I think I'm going to rehab this knee and see what I can do in a 5K with a healthy, pain-free knee.
 
Nice, Guyon!
(and yes, I put away the snuff box for a couple days)
 
Weight goal attained. I'm going for another 10 though before I try to level out.
Still some jiggly parts. Don't want to lose all the jiggly parts. Just some of them.

42777037.png
 
Congrats, Guyon! I'm actually down 10 as well, even though I wasn't shooting for a particular weight loss goal. Also, side note, incline leg press SOOOO much easier than squats.
 
Just found this thread and thought I'd "weigh in".

All the advice and exercise is great, but some of us are physically unable to work out strenuously, whether in a gym or elsewhere. Diet modification and light exercise are the only alternatives.

I used to run 7-10 miles/day 3 days/wk and lift weights 5 days/week. Weighed 160 lbs with 10% bf. Then torn cartilage in both shoulders, disc at L5-S1, screwed up knee and colon cancer w/ chemo that, in part led to a 12 inch hernia. The only thing holding my guts in is a thin piece of skin and a girdle.

All that as background. With the above issues, my short little 5' 5 7/8" (on a good day with 2 pairs of socks) body shot up to 218 lbs. Can't run, ride a bike, lift weights (for exercise - I do for "work" around the farm but that's a gotta do - so 2 girdles), or anything else heavy duty.

With diet modification and walking, I have gotten down, over the last 14 months, to 174 lbs. My goal is 150# so I can be "fixed". No, not the way y'all are thinking...:rolleyes: that was done with the chemo.:D All I got is blanks now.

I call it the "NO" diet because of the restrictions on consumption during actual weight loss/modification phases. If anyone is interested because of their physical inability to work out hard due to injury/etc, PM or email me and I'll provide excruciating verbose details.
 
Bested my 5K time yesterday. In zero-drop shoes.
I'm down to 180'ish from a high of 229. That's 49 pounds off.
We need to get up a 50-mile challenge for the Becker crowd.
Run, walk, or crawl... the idea is to do 50 miles in a month.
 
Guyon said:
Bested my 5K time yesterday. In zero-drop shoes.
I'm down to 180'ish from a high of 229. That's 49 pounds off.
We need to get up a 50-mile challenge for the Becker crowd.
Run, walk, or crawl... the idea is to do 50 miles in a month.
Click to expand...

I'm in. What say to an official "start date" of 15 November, to run through 15 December? That's only about 1.6 mpd for 50 in 31 and it would give the couch taters a week to start working up to that.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
I'm in. What say to an official "start date" of 15 November, to run through 15 December? That's only about 1.6 mpd for 50 in 31 and it would give the couch taters a week to start working up to that.
Click to expand...

Thread is up. Good idea on the time line.
 
Still addicted to kettlebells for my quick and dirty workouts. Newest acquisition:



72 lbs of chest thumping, knuckle dragging iron care of the good folks at Onnit.
 
Did this one die when the Move Your Butt thread took off?

Training for my first 5K - Turkey Day morning.

I FINALLY weighed less this week than I did 2 years ago when I stopped Jenny Craig because I wasn't losing any more.
I do notice that I consistently weigh less after a day of rest than after a day of exercise - but the more I work out leading up to it, the bigger the loss tends to be (as long as I don't blow it with some extravagant meal.)
 
tjswarbrick said:
Did this one die when the Move Your Butt thread took off?

Training for my first 5K - Turkey Day morning.

I FINALLY weighed less this week than I did 2 years ago when I stopped Jenny Craig because I wasn't losing any more.
I do notice that I consistently weigh less after a day of rest than after a day of exercise - but the more I work out leading up to it, the bigger the loss tends to be (as long as I don't blow it with some extravagant meal.)
Click to expand...

The other thread stole a lot of thunder :D

In addition to running for that thread, I'm still doing my regular stuff. After my run today to get more BP, I went straight to a kettlebell class I teach. The "move your @$$" thread is gonna kill me.

BTW tj, I teach @ Charles Gracie in Daly City (where el Camino turns into Mission), try out my class for free and see how you like it! Sats/ Suns 1-3PM. Good luck on your turkey day run.
 
What I like about the challenge of the other thread is that it has motivated me to do more - and have a set goal. I was just "working out" not really keeping track. With the challenge, I am making more of a concerted effort to do more and record it.

This thread can be the general fitness and training thread, showing what other things people are doing, how they are doing with weight loss goals, etc.
 
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