OCR Fit club (2010 edition)

[Cyril the Wolf]

So my goal is to lose my gut and get some muscle.

Started the muscle process 3 weeks ago, upped my protein intake (while staying below 3000 calories and watching my sugars/fats etc) And am pumping iron under my father... he don't let folks rest.

Additionally I have been running 3x a week for 2 miles trying to get faster each time, I have an additional goal of running in a 5k in June.

That's about it, progress has been slow but steady, I notice that I actually have biceps now when I flex. YAY!

Also: I use http://www.livestrong.com/myplate to keep track of my calories and such. Pretty handy tool.

[The Derrit]

I meant I'm finding that I'm having trouble getting to 25 sit-ups. Not that they're easy up to then.

And the last time I pushed too far past my limits I lost use of my left arm for the better part of a week. (Too many curls) So I'm not too keen on something like that happening again, But I need to get back into shape.

as a muscle group, unless you are doing exercises that stretch your abs out, such as reverse back bends etc., you are very unlikely to overwork your abs to the point of injury. doing lots of situps will not hurt you; that's not to say you won't feel it, because you will at first, but once you are over that preliminary hump of "ouch my abs are pretty damn sore" which takes two or three weeks, you can really make some headway there

edit: i've been where you were with the curls by the way, it is a miserable feeling and can be incredibly painful. to avoid that feeling, after curls stretch out your elbow joint extensively. this is especially important if you are doing curls for reps. just grab onto a nearby bar, horizontal preferably, and hang off of it. you'll feel a lot better afterwards

[Halt]

Went for a bike ride today.. holy shit. When I got home my legs were so tired it was tough to walk.. I'm so out of shape. :\

as a muscle group, unless you are doing exercises that stretch your abs out, such as reverse back bends etc., you are very unlikely to overwork your abs to the point of injury. doing lots of situps will not hurt you; that's not to say you won't feel it, because you will at first, but once you are over that preliminary hump of "ouch my abs are pretty damn sore" which takes two or three weeks, you can really make some headway there

edit: i've been where you were with the curls by the way, it is a miserable feeling and can be incredibly painful. to avoid that feeling, after curls stretch out your elbow joint extensively. this is especially important if you are doing curls for reps. just grab onto a nearby bar, horizontal preferably, and hang off of it. you'll feel a lot better afterwards

The only problem I have with curls, is that it hurts my wrists to lift at times. it was to a point where they hurt constantly and thats when I stoped and grabbed a wrist brace.

[Harmonious Dissonance]

Ok, Thanks for the advice Derrit ;D

[Ray Falling]

I quit going to the gym at the end of last year, after having made some great progress in just 10 weeks, regarding to pyshical condition/stamina, but seeing how it took me about three weeks to recover from 1 simple session.

That's when I went back to the doctors' to talk about my possible CFS/ME and it turned out they had already given me that diagnose a while back, but somehow I was not informed :S

I've tried going to the gym a couple of times after that, and sometimes it was good, but most of the time my symtpoms were just too bad to even go.

I still swim once a week, but my pains and fatigue have gotten so bad that not even swimming really does any good anymore.

After a week of playing Final Fantasy 12 I really messed up my sleep rhytm and lost 3 kilos (bringing me down to a nasty 52) , which are a pain to gain in the first place.

So these days I'm trying to take better care again and somehow getting myself to eat more often during the day, to gain some much needed substance.

So far, no real improvement but I have noticed my appetite is getting better, which is something I can be happy with

Can anyone recommend some good types of drinks/snacks that are actually non-destructive? Stores here are filled with 0% fat crap and 'light' products, which actually contain stuff worse than sugar 0_0;

Like, what kind of fruit drinks can you actually trust to have actual fruits and vitamins in them?

[Monobrow]

I'm now 5 lbs from my goal. I didn't work out for like two weeks because I am stupid. But it's not horrible... I started back last night. :J

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Off crutches, back to training. No tumbling yet, but working on rebuilding all the upper-body strength I lost while I was out (fortunately, I didn't lose as much as I thought I would)

[HalcyonSpirit]

I've got a question.

I starting working out 2 days ago, and it mostly went well. However, I believe I overdid it with my arms, specifically my biceps. I was doing curls, if it's relevant. Anyway, I think I did quite a few too many, and the next day (yesterday), my muscles around my elbow (mostly above) were not only sore, but really, really stiff. I stretched them out, which hurt a fair amount, and they seemed ok, but after a few minutes they stiffened up again when I relaxed them. I stretched again, again it hurt a fair amount, and a few minutes after that they again started to stiffen back up. Etc. etc. Today, the problem persists. If I keep my arms outstretched, the muscles can't really tense up enough to hinder movement, but if I relax them at all, they tense up again and I have to stretch them before I can fully outstretch my arm again.

I've never had this problem before; the soreness I know is normal, but the persistent stiffness? Is that normal as well, or is there a problem? I've been resting the muscles as much as possible, but the stiffness is painful and inconvenient for doing anything. Is there something I should be doing to help them heal?

[Cyril the Wolf]

Training is fun, So far I actually have biceps, I sleep better in general, and my singing has improved because of my ABBBBBBDOminals.

Still far from my goal, but it'll just take some time.

Also: Planks are the most badass ab exercise EVER.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

So I've condensed my entire pulling strength set into one brief sequence. I can get through three or four, then I'm pretty much dead.

Same with my pushing strength set.

I'll post videos sometime soon.