The last fitness thread timed out perfectly at the end of the year (purely luck, LOL). So let's see what our goals are for 2016, and keep track of how we accomplish them!

I know DJJ is going to tear it up in the skating race - can't wait to hear about it!

PurpleJedi is going to spend 200 days at the gym - I know it! Can't wait to see the gains!

For me, I am going to bench press 350 pounds. That's my 2016 goal.

I left 2015 benching 311 pounds and feeling great. Now, I'm on a 5-week ski trip with no access to a gym. So I decided to do 3,000 push-ups in 30 days. That's not really much of a stretch - 100 push ups a day isn't hard. BUT, I got sick the first week, so I've had to double up some days. I've done 1,900 push ups since December 14, so I'm on track.

Once I get back home in late January, I'll hit the gym hard again. I spent the last couple months of 2015 doing a regimen that only included three exercises: bench, bicep curl, leg press. But I do about 10 sets of each exercise and after a warm-up set, I max out reps on every single set. I don't count reps; I just do the exercise until I can't do any more reps. That is the best way I've found to get results!

So post your goals and your plans and your progress here! Good luck and good health to all!

missfee said:

Well, my mom bought me a new Fitbit ChargeHR for Christmas and it's pretty neat. I started back at the gym on New Year's Eve and have made a commitment to get to the gym starting at 3 days a week, no matter if stress from job or bullshit from my silly supervisor pisses me off. For me that's the hardest part...a stressful day at work easily translates to going straight home and laying on the couch. My goal is to approach this new year with more dedication into transforming my body to the body that I want. I've already stocked up on my fruits and vegetables as well as protein shakes and protein bars, which will curb my temptation for sweets and fast food. It's worked before and it WILL work again!!!! I eventually would like to lose 51 pounds this year. That's down about 4 dress sizes for me. So any advice and/or motivational tips are appreciated. [Edited 1/2/16 12:28pm]

I'm happy to help! Here are some things that have helped me through the years:

1. Write down your goal and put it somewhere you see it every day. My man Arnold Schwarzenegger writes down his goals each January on little pieces of paper/Post-Its, and sticks them on his bathroom mirror. I think that's a great idea!

2. Get a buddy to help with the goal - a "responsibility partner". After you set up your plan, share the plan with them and ask them to keep you honest and motivated. You'll be (pleasantly) surprised at how effective this is. Tell them that you are counting on them, and that if you fail or start to slack off then you want them to express disappointment in you. You'll find that not wanting to disappoint a friend is a great motivational tool. All too often we have no problem letting ourselves down but we will go the extra mile to meet our friends' expectations. Use that in a positive way

3. Here's the biggie - WORK BACKWARDS. You say you'd like to lose 51 pounds this year, which I assume means by December 31st. So, that is the end goal. Start at December 31 with a loss of 51 pounds. Then, go BACKWARDS to November 30. How many pounds can you expect to lose in December? Whatever that number is tells you how many pounds you will need to have lost by November 30.

Then go BACKWARDS to October 31 and do the same thing. Keep doing that BACKWARDS until you get to January 1.

This is the BEST way I have found to reach any goal. This is how athletes, businessmen, astronauts, entertainers, and every other kind of successful person achieves goals. I know, because I've talked to hundreds of them on this subject. If there is one secret to success, working backwards instead of forwards is it.

4. Write a contract with yourself, whereby you agree with yourself that you will reach your goal within the time you want. Make the contract very short, and do it after you've finished step #3 above. What you will have done is actually accomplished the goal in your mind. Now, all that remains is going through the physical motions. This is another technique successful people use. You'd be surprised at how many people will tell you that committing to the goal in their mind was the hard part. But once they fully committed to their self, and worked out a plan to reach the goal, going through the physical motions was easy. I've heard this so many times from so many successful people that I know it works!

5. Look at every obstacle as something good. This sounds easy but it isn't. As a man of faith, I thank God for every challenge and setback. But anyone, faithful or not, can use this technique. Just thank ____________ for everything, even the negative things. What this does is take the fear out of failing. Another key attribute that successful people share is not being afraid to fail. And this is how they overcome that fear. They embrace obstacles.

6. Buy some clothes! After you create your plan in #3 above, you'll have a great idea as to when you will be changing dress sizes. If your budget permits, buy an outfit or two in your next upcoming smaller size. Try them on when you reach the date your plan tells you that you will be that size. You can buy the outfits close enough to that date so that if for some reason you haven't got the loss you want, you can return the outfits. But I bet you won't, because you're going to reach that goal!

7. Last but VERY IMPORTANT - go see a doctor. Losing 51 pounds is a lot, and any weight loss program or other significant physical challenge MUST include a physical before starting. Your health insurance might very well pay for it but no matter what, you need to KNOW you're in good enough health to make such drastic changes.

Always keep in mind that a big goal like this requires patience. It won't happen overnight; it will take a few months (12 to be exact!). You can't hurry time, and you can't lose all the weight in a month. I love your goal of 51 pounds in a year. That's 1 pound per week. Looking at it that way, it doesn't sound like much. But that's the way to lose it! We've all had those diets where we lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks - and then gained 20 pounds in the 3rd week. That yo-yo stuff doesn't work! But losing a pound a week? That's weight that will stay off!

Good luck! Keep us posted on the awesome success I know you're going to have!

^^^Thanks Rodeo for the tips and advice!!! Much appreciated. I've been doing pretty good this first week. I haven't had any urges for fast food, sweets or candy. I've been trying to keep my water intake up, it's not problem for me to give up sodas or juices since I pretty much prefer drinking water anyway, its just that I drink more of it when I'm home than I do at work, but I keep a water bottle on my desk so I just have to remember to keep drinking. I'm finding that staying away from coffee isn't too bad either, I just replaced it with hot tea in the morning when I get to work. Using my Fitbit, I've found that certain things I do around the house helps me burn a ton of calories without realizing it. So on days when I can't get to the gym, I won't feel guilty that I've missed out on a workout day and feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I made it to the gym last Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This week my gym days will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday. I'm just trying to keep it simple. I know that when I put heavy expectations on myself that I crash and burn, so I'm trying to avoid doing that to myself this time around.

missfee said:

^^^Thanks Rodeo for the tips and advice!!! Much appreciated. I've been doing pretty good this first week. I haven't had any urges for fast food, sweets or candy. I've been trying to keep my water intake up, it's not problem for me to give up sodas or juices since I pretty much prefer drinking water anyway, its just that I drink more of it when I'm home than I do at work, but I keep a water bottle on my desk so I just have to remember to keep drinking. I'm finding that staying away from coffee isn't too bad either, I just replaced it with hot tea in the morning when I get to work. Using my Fitbit, I've found that certain things I do around the house helps me burn a ton of calories without realizing it. So on days when I can't get to the gym, I won't feel guilty that I've missed out on a workout day and feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I made it to the gym last Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This week my gym days will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday. I'm just trying to keep it simple. I know that when I put heavy expectations on myself that I crash and burn, so I'm trying to avoid doing that to myself this time around.

Good! You are right - it's best to take it easy in the beginning when it comes to the gym. Every year I see the same thing - my gym fills up in January with newbies; the newbies think they have to hit it hard on Day 1; then they can't move again for five days; then they never come back.

I firmly believe that you should NEVER get sore from working out. I believe it's best to just ease into it. Take it slow. Do light weights and low reps. Get your muscles used to the movements. Take two or three weeks this way.

Then, you can increase weight and reps and begin to push yourself. And when you do, you will be able to work out hard without getting sore.

Go get 'em!

RodeoSchro said:

I tend to get sore but I push myself a lot. Hit it hard, or don't hit it at all.

uPtoWnNY said:

RodeoSchro said:

I tend to get sore but I push myself a lot. Hit it hard, or don't hit it at all.

How sore? Like "I can't walk" sore, or "I can tell I worked out yesterday" sore?

I hit it hard for sure, but I don't ever get "I can't walk" sore because I've been doing this a long time. But for those just getting into working out, I'm a firm believer that they should never get sore because if they do, they quit. Better to build a base, build muscle memory, and build a tolerance to the movements before pushing yourself, IMO.

So, I'm not doing very good.

At the skating school I got a Vo2 Max test. The goal was to measure what my optimal heart rate should be to train for the Weissensee Elfstedentocht.

However, my results were within the ME/CFS range.


Something I was dreading, but now was validated.


The thing is, that I got a personalised training schedule to train myself out of the fatigue.


Problem is, I have not started it. I've just been sitting om my couch watching television.

I should be happy that somebody established what is wrong and even offered me a solution.

So, I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm just getting fatter in stead of fitter.

dJJ said:

So, I'm not doing very good.

At the skating school I got a Vo2 Max test. The goal was to measure what my optimal heart rate should be to train for the Weissensee Elfstedentocht.

However, my results were within the ME/CFS range.


Something I was dreading, but now was validated.


The thing is, that I got a personalised training schedule to train myself out of the fatigue.


Problem is, I have not started it. I've just been sitting om my couch watching television.

I should be happy that somebody established what is wrong and even offered me a solution.

So, I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm just getting fatter in stead of fitter.

I was just thinking about you! I am sure you'll get to where you want to be. Maybe you can partner up with a friend, and y'all can motivate each other.

Good luck, I know you're going to kick booty!

I was going to post an update and saw DJJ had already posted hers. I know this, DJJ - you can't accomplish anything without a goal, and you can't accomplish a goal without a plan. You have both the goal and the plan - that's the hard part! Now, as my mentor and guru Arnold Schwarzenegger would say - All you have to do is go through the motions!

Today is January 19, and this is around the time that all those who hit the gym with a New Year's Resolution, but without a plan, start to drop out. Don't let that be you! The next time you go to the gym, look around and tell yourself "Many have fallen but I'm still here! I'm still here! I'm still here!"

Today is the last full day of my winter vacation. Been up here in the mountains since December 14, with no real access to a gym so I decided to do 100 push-ups per day.

I am happy to announce "Mission Accomplished"! I've done 3,700 push-ups over the last 37 days. I think I'll do another 100 today, and then 200 tomorrow morning so that I will have an even 4,000 for this trip.

We will see if all those push-ups did anything for my bench. Last year, I did about the same regimen and mostly it just maintained strength. Which is OK with me!

Since I've started this year off doing 100 push-ups every day, I'm toying with the idea of keeping that going. Doing 100 push-ups a day for me is very easy, but it sounds kind of cool to be able to say at the end of the year, "I did 36,600 push-ups this year". Heck, all I have to do is throw in a few 200-day sets and I can hit 40,000 or 50,000 this year.

We'l lsee but for now, I cannot WAIT for Saturday morning and my return to my gym!

RodeoSchro said:

dJJ said:

So, I'm not doing very good.

At the skating school I got a Vo2 Max test. The goal was to measure what my optimal heart rate should be to train for the Weissensee Elfstedentocht.

However, my results were within the ME/CFS range.


Something I was dreading, but now was validated.


The thing is, that I got a personalised training schedule to train myself out of the fatigue.


Problem is, I have not started it. I've just been sitting om my couch watching television.

I should be happy that somebody established what is wrong and even offered me a solution.

So, I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm just getting fatter in stead of fitter.

I was just thinking about you! I am sure you'll get to where you want to be. Maybe you can partner up with a friend, and y'all can motivate each other.

Good luck, I know you're going to kick booty!

I did my first run yesterday. The training consist of monitoring my heart rate, so, I will stay within a certain heart rate and build that up gradually. Just like the time I will be training, first week it's 20 minutes, 2nd week it's 24 minutes and so forth.

And in between it's all about making sure my body can recover. Because the recovery is not as it is with 'normal' people. So, I just have to make sure to rest more to give my body to recover.

And I started to monitor my food intake. Just to make sure I don't over eat anymore.

So, I will skate the Elstedentocht on the Weissensee, it's just going to be in 2017. I will have a year to prepare myself and get in shape.

Wow DJJ that skate race sounds intense from what I translated! You can do it one glide at a time.

My fitness goals are about dropping weight through fun activities and diet. My winter activities are cross country skiing and snowboarding. Spring/Summer/Fall will be biking to work. Diet will move to a more plant based diet with the occasional BBQ and seafood thrown in. There are some things you just can't get a Texan to change.

missfee said:

Well, my mom bought me a new Fitbit ChargeHR for Christmas and it's pretty neat. I started back at the gym on New Year's Eve and have made a commitment to get to the gym starting at 3 days a week, no matter if stress from job or bullshit from my silly supervisor pisses me off. For me that's the hardest part...a stressful day at work easily translates to going straight home and laying on the couch. My goal is to approach this new year with more dedication into transforming my body to the body that I want. I've already stocked up on my fruits and vegetables as well as protein shakes and protein bars, which will curb my temptation for sweets and fast food. It's worked before and it WILL work again!!!! I eventually would like to lose 51 pounds this year. That's down about 4 dress sizes for me. So any advice and/or motivational tips are appreciated. [Edited 1/2/16 12:28pm]

my goal is similar. i would like to lose about 50 lbs as well. i have a bad habit of fluctuating....

I hit the gym yesterday for the first time since around December 13th. So, the question is - how did doing 3,700 push-ups affect/maintain my strength?

Well........

I put up 306 pounds. Yay! But I felt pretty good so.....

I put up 316 pounds.

HECK YEAH!

Feeling AWESOME! I've got 4+ months before I head back for an extended time in New Mexico. I have NO DOUBT I'll get 350 pounds before then. And I'll post the video when I do!

BTW, I'm still doing 100 push-ups every morning. I think I'll continue that and when I go to New Mexico this summer. I'll add some push-ups to replace the bench pressing I won't be doing. I'm either going to end up with 40,000 or 45,000 or maybe 50,000 push-ups this year.

.

[Edited 1/24/16 10:32am]

I completed week 1.

I did three running laps of 6 minutes warm up, 20 minutes running and 6 minutes cool down.

The first 10 minutes of my running I kept my heart rate in zone 2 and the last 10 minutes in zone 3.

So, in week 2, I will to 3 running laps of 24 minutes running, all 24 minutes in zone 3.

In between I'm resting and doing breath excersises three times a day. And monitoring my heart rate when I'm doing it.

I'm proud that I finished week 1 and I'm looking forward to start week 2.

I'm just running 3km now, and it has to develop towards skating 200 km in one day!

So, lots of work to do to become healthy and then sporty.

RodeoSchro said:

I hit the gym yesterday for the first time since around December 13th. So, the question is - how did doing 3,700 push-ups affect/maintain my strength?

Well........

I put up 306 pounds. Yay! But I felt pretty good so.....

I put up 316 pounds.

HECK YEAH!

Feeling AWESOME! I've got 4+ months before I head back for an extended time in New Mexico. I have NO DOUBT I'll get 350 pounds before then. And I'll post the video when I do!

BTW, I'm still doing 100 push-ups every morning. I think I'll continue that and when I go to New Mexico this summer. I'll add some push-ups to replace the bench pressing I won't be doing. I'm either going to end up with 40,000 or 45,000 or maybe 50,000 push-ups this year.

.

[Edited 1/24/16 10:32am]

Very impressive. Are you just working on your arm muscles or are you also working on your staying power?


I can't doing any strength excercises yet, because now I'm just working to get over the chronic fatigue. But if I have improved enough after 6 weeks, I hope I can go to the gym again. Because I know that those interval trainings are a great boost for my body. It's just that I have to build up my body first.

JackOat84 said:

Wow DJJ that skate race sounds intense from what I translated! You can do it one glide at a time.

My fitness goals are about dropping weight through fun activities and diet. My winter activities are cross country skiing and snowboarding. Spring/Summer/Fall will be biking to work. Diet will move to a more plant based diet with the occasional BBQ and seafood thrown in. There are some things you just can't get a Texan to change.

It is intense. I would love to be able to skate the Elfstedentocht in Friesland in the Netherlands, but winters are too hot. Therefore the alternative Elfstedentocht at the Weissensee is a good alternative.

Mind you, I'm running 3 kilometers now, so I do need to train the whole year.

I love snowboarding! Never did cross country skiing, but it seems pretty good. I think it really works better if you do activities you enjoy. I really hope to be in shape next winter, so I have the energy to go out and do stuf without being exhausted for weeks afterwards.

The fitbit is perfect to monitor your tension.

I regulate my heart rate during training and do breathing relaxation exercises three times a day in order to train my body to learn that a low heart rate is normal and that a high heart rate means I'm too tense.

Maybe something like that works for you too?

missfee said:

Well, my mom bought me a new Fitbit ChargeHR for Christmas and it's pretty neat. I started back at the gym on New Year's Eve and have made a commitment to get to the gym starting at 3 days a week, no matter if stress from job or bullshit from my silly supervisor pisses me off. For me that's the hardest part...a stressful day at work easily translates to going straight home and laying on the couch. My goal is to approach this new year with more dedication into transforming my body to the body that I want. I've already stocked up on my fruits and vegetables as well as protein shakes and protein bars, which will curb my temptation for sweets and fast food. It's worked before and it WILL work again!!!! I eventually would like to lose 51 pounds this year. That's down about 4 dress sizes for me. So any advice and/or motivational tips are appreciated.

SaraWright10 said:

missfee said:

Well, my mom bought me a new Fitbit ChargeHR for Christmas and it's pretty neat. I started back at the gym on New Year's Eve and have made a commitment to get to the gym starting at 3 days a week, no matter if stress from job or bullshit from my silly supervisor pisses me off. For me that's the hardest part...a stressful day at work easily translates to going straight home and laying on the couch. My goal is to approach this new year with more dedication into transforming my body to the body that I want. I've already stocked up on my fruits and vegetables as well as protein shakes and protein bars, which will curb my temptation for sweets and fast food. It's worked before and it WILL work again!!!! I eventually would like to lose 51 pounds this year. That's down about 4 dress sizes for me. So any advice and/or motivational tips are appreciated. [Edited 1/2/16 12:28pm]

my goal is similar. i would like to lose about 50 lbs as well. i have a bad habit of fluctuating....

I have a weekly plan. I think that does the trick.

Did you make a weekly plan for yourself?

It's important to make it not too hard. Because if you are too hard on yourself, it's impossible to keep up with your own plan. Make sure it is realistic.

Especially in the beginning. If you start slow and build it up slow, it's easier to follow the plan and actually succeed in the long run.

PurpleJedi said:

So?


How are you doing?

dJJ said:

PurpleJedi said:

So?


How are you doing?

Not so good.

But I haven't given up!

dJJ said:

RodeoSchro said:

I hit the gym yesterday for the first time since around December 13th. So, the question is - how did doing 3,700 push-ups affect/maintain my strength?

Well........

I put up 306 pounds. Yay! But I felt pretty good so.....

I put up 316 pounds.

HECK YEAH!

Feeling AWESOME! I've got 4+ months before I head back for an extended time in New Mexico. I have NO DOUBT I'll get 350 pounds before then. And I'll post the video when I do!

BTW, I'm still doing 100 push-ups every morning. I think I'll continue that and when I go to New Mexico this summer. I'll add some push-ups to replace the bench pressing I won't be doing. I'm either going to end up with 40,000 or 45,000 or maybe 50,000 push-ups this year.

.

[Edited 1/24/16 10:32am]

Very impressive. Are you just working on your arm muscles or are you also working on your staying power?


I can't doing any strength excercises yet, because now I'm just working to get over the chronic fatigue. But if I have improved enough after 6 weeks, I hope I can go to the gym again. Because I know that those interval trainings are a great boost for my body. It's just that I have to build up my body first.

You're right - take it slow, build a muscle base, get your body used to the movements. That is SO important! If you continue doing that, I am sure that within a short time, you will be making great strides.

I don't do any endurance training. I hate to run, and all running seems to do to me is screw up my knees, hips and lower back. I only do free weights but usually I don't rest long between sets. I seem to keep my heart rate up pretty well. I just got back from a long ski trip and I could ski hard every day for 2 - 3 hours at a time (counting trips on the ski lift, of course!). I think I had good endurance because I keep my heart rate up high, and I do a fair amount of leg work.

Until about 6 months ago I used to do full-body workouts. Chest, arms (biceps and triceps), shoulders, traps, leg biceps and leg quadriceps. But not long ago I decided I wanted to reach that 350-pound benchpress goal. To do that, I decided to concentrate only on 3 muscle groups - chest, biceps and leg quads. So I spend about 1 hour 15 minutes just working those groups, and most of that time is spent doing bench presses.

PurpleJedi said:

dJJ said:

So?


How are you doing?

Not so good.

But I haven't given up!

We won't let you give up! Say it after me:

"I am going to bench press 225 pounds this year!"

RodeoSchro said:

[...]

BTW, I'm still doing 100 push-ups every morning. I think I'll continue that and when I go to New Mexico this summer. I'll add some push-ups to replace the bench pressing I won't be doing. I'm either going to end up with 40,000 or 45,000 or maybe 50,000 push-ups this year.

.

[Edited 1/24/16 10:32am]

Nice... Do yo do 100 at once or in a couple of sets?

RodeoSchro said:

uPtoWnNY said:

I tend to get sore but I push myself a lot. Hit it hard, or don't hit it at all.

How sore? Like "I can't walk" sore, or "I can tell I worked out yesterday" sore?

I hit it hard for sure, but I don't ever get "I can't walk" sore because I've been doing this a long time. But for those just getting into working out, I'm a firm believer that they should never get sore because if they do, they quit. Better to build a base, build muscle memory, and build a tolerance to the movements before pushing yourself, IMO.

Well, on Friday I must have overdone it at the gym - or I did the exercise wrong or I just need to work on the mobility of my leg muscles - but my calves were SO sore yesterday, I literally could not walk. I couldn't keep my legs straight. Really painful. More or less ok today.

Phishanga said:

RodeoSchro said:

[...]

BTW, I'm still doing 100 push-ups every morning. I think I'll continue that and when I go to New Mexico this summer. I'll add some push-ups to replace the bench pressing I won't be doing. I'm either going to end up with 40,000 or 45,000 or maybe 50,000 push-ups this year.

.

[Edited 1/24/16 10:32am]

Nice... Do yo do 100 at once or in a couple of sets?

Been doing 3 sets - 33, 33, and 34. Thinking about ramping it up to 2 sets of 50. To me, it's not the number of reps but the time it takes to get them all in.

Phishanga said:

RodeoSchro said:

How sore? Like "I can't walk" sore, or "I can tell I worked out yesterday" sore?

I hit it hard for sure, but I don't ever get "I can't walk" sore because I've been doing this a long time. But for those just getting into working out, I'm a firm believer that they should never get sore because if they do, they quit. Better to build a base, build muscle memory, and build a tolerance to the movements before pushing yourself, IMO.

Well, on Friday I must have overdone it at the gym - or I did the exercise wrong or I just need to work on the mobility of my leg muscles - but my calves were SO sore yesterday, I literally could not walk. I couldn't keep my legs straight. Really painful. More or less ok today.

Bummer! Hope they feel better today,

I'm back at HQ after 6 weeks away. That can only mean one thing:

Time to see if I can still walk up 18 flights of stairs!

UPDATE - Yes, but I wasn't sure I'd make it until after I got more than halfway up! For some reason, once I hit the halfway mark in anything, it seems to get easier. Maybe because I know the end is closer than the beginning.

[Edited 1/26/16 11:06am]