Right Foot, Left Foot

Hey old guys, I’m joining the club, recently turned 36 and decided to keep a new log over here.
About me, some of you know me some don’t, over the last 3 years here I’ve gone from super fat guy (288lbs) to skinny fat (214lbs) weak as hell to pudgy stonger guy still weak for T-Nation.
I’m currently sitting at 238lbs way fatter than I want to be but haven’t had the dedication/reason to get down to teen % body fat.

I made the mistake of signing up for the Warrior Dash at the end of July with some younger co-workers and I do not want to be the old guy who finishes last. I’ve never in life ran more than a mile and it sucks now more than ever but I will not finish last.
My plan is to get down around 200lbs buy the end of July and run this race for us old has beens while hopefully keeping my strength levels at or above current levels.

Now for some numbers:
6’2"
238lbs
Bench: 285
Squat: 410
Rack pull from mid shin: 455+
MP: 185

I have been running 5/3/1 for a while and will continue to do so through out. For the last few months I’ve been posting my lifts in the BOI and will continue putting that part of my log over there as well as here but this log will also contain my diet and cardio for the day.
I am working around some injuries and structural problems, like most of you guys so I will have to take those into account but will keep my crying to a minimum.

My diet will be low carb but I’m going to start out carb cycling, PWO Surge Recovery, however if I don’t see the results I want (2lbs a week) then I will dump it. For now I’m going to shoot for the theoretical basil metabolic rate calories provided by Fitday.com of 3665 and go from there.

Conditioning/race training all fasted am sessions:

Monday- walk 30-45min 10* incline between 3.5-4mph (squat day no running)
Tuesday- run 5* incline 5.5-6mph 1+miles (working up to 3.1 miles eventually)
Wednesday- same as Tuesday and/or weather permitting outside conditioning(no lifiting)
Thursday- walk 30-45min 10* incline between 3.5-4mph (pulling in the evening)
Friday- run 5* incline 5.5-6mph 1+miles (working up to 3.1 miles eventually)
Saturday and Sunday- misc conditioning, what ever life allows.

My basic diet through the week looks the same:
5am-wake up coffee, cream no sugar
6am- cardio
7am- protein shake 75g’s (don’t usually have time to make real food during the week)
9:30am- 8oz fish, 1 serving almonds
12:30pm- 8oz chicken and veg
3pm- 8oz fish, 1 serving almonds
6pm- PWO Surge (for now)
7:30pm- meat and veg
9pm- 2tbsp natural PB and 25’s protein (this may go also, depending)
10pm- bed

So there you have it, feel free to let me know how stupid or on track I am. I’ve never been this old before so my training ideas may not be suited for my old body, still learning every day.

Welcome bro, whats running lol. Seriously just moved my log over here and everybody has been more than welcoming. Any reason why you dont DL and just Rackpull? Good luck with the race

DDay glad your here brother, I do the warrior dash in November. The wife and I were supposed to do it this month but had to move it. My plan for the dash is all the “farm” equipment people tell me I acquire. Tire, prowler, yoke walk, farmers walk. Will be watching and putting in my .02 Matty and I got your back.

Thanks guys, one of the main reasons I came over here was for the like minded guys and support I’m going to need to make myself run, freaking hate running.
Matty- I don’t pull from the ground because of back problems, my spine is shaped like an S with a twist. I can pull from the ground but I have to be real careful about it, pulling from mid shin keeps me safe and lifting.
DJHT- I saw the pictures of you home torture system you’re building, looks like fun! Wish I had a place put a big o’ tire I’d do it in a minute.

Welcome

I’ve done the warrior dash and its pretty freaking easy. One thing to remember though is to wear stuff you won’t mind throwing away at the end of the day.

[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Welcome

I’ve done the warrior dash and its pretty freaking easy. One thing to remember though is to wear stuff you won’t mind throwing away at the end of the day.[/quote]

Thanks, JoeGood. I plan to take throw away clothes, a trash bag and a change of clothes. Do you run a lot? I’m seriously concerned about my conditioning not being able to hold up for 3.1 miles, up till now I only run when chased.

^ Hahahahahahahaha well you could always hand the wife a knife and tell her you mounted her sister. Best way to get in shape if married to a Mexican.

[quote]dday wrote:
Thanks guys, one of the main reasons I came over here was for the like minded guys and support I’m going to need to make myself run, freaking hate running.
[/quote]

If you hate it, why do you do it? There are plenty of other options. I’m a firm believer that if you hate a certain activity, you won’t stick with it.

I used to race (5Ks, 10Ks, and sprint triathlons). I started lifting to get faster and finally found myself at the start line thinking “Why the hell am I doing this? I hate it. I just want to lift weights.” That was the end of my running career.

Welcome, BTW.

[quote]DJHT wrote:
^ Hahahahahahahaha well you could always hand the wife a knife and tell her you mounted her sister. Best way to get in shape if married to a Mexican.[/quote]

She’s not Mexican but she is pretty quick, not to mention I taught her how to use a gun, doesn’t matter how fast I am she’s a pretty good shot.

[quote]kpsnap wrote:

[quote]dday wrote:
Thanks guys, one of the main reasons I came over here was for the like minded guys and support I’m going to need to make myself run, freaking hate running.
[/quote]

If you hate it, why do you do it? There are plenty of other options. I’m a firm believer that if you hate a certain activity, you won’t stick with it.

I used to race (5Ks, 10Ks, and sprint triathlons). I started lifting to get faster and finally found myself at the start line thinking “Why the hell am I doing this? I hate it. I just want to lift weights.” That was the end of my running career.

Welcome, BTW.[/quote]

Thanks for the welcome. You’re totally right, once this race is over I doubt I’ll run again, much rather lift something heavy, push the prowler around or even sprint. The only reason I’m doing this is because of the twins hanging in my drawers. In my office I’m looked at as the “health nut” and when these two young bucks challenged me to the dash little dday stepped up to the plate and now I’m commited, can’t let these 20 somethings get the better of me…I guess. Dropping the weight is an added bonus, I need it anyway, kill two birds.

Welcome fine sir.

Welcome, dday. You say your spine is twisted - is it scoliosis? I have scoliosis, and have learned how to DL. Just had my first meet yesterday, in fact, and lifted stronger than ever before. (Oh god, now I’m bragging on other peoples’ threads. I may be getting completely unbearable.)

welcome.

[quote]dday wrote:

[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Welcome

I’ve done the warrior dash and its pretty freaking easy. One thing to remember though is to wear stuff you won’t mind throwing away at the end of the day.[/quote]

Thanks, JoeGood. I plan to take throw away clothes, a trash bag and a change of clothes. Do you run a lot? I’m seriously concerned about my conditioning not being able to hold up for 3.1 miles, up till now I only run when chased.[/quote]

I used to run a lot, now only rarely. The thing about the warrior dash is you aren’t running 3.1 miles. You are really running .25 to .50 miles between obsticles and the obsticles aren’t all that difficlut so you’ll get several chances to catch your breath.

Good luck with the challenge. Almost everybody’s conditioning (including mine) could use some work. If you can get it as the result of working on a goal then it is easier.

And…kick their asses.

[quote]cavalier wrote:
Welcome, dday. You say your spine is twisted - is it scoliosis? I have scoliosis, and have learned how to DL. Just had my first meet yesterday, in fact, and lifted stronger than ever before. (Oh god, now I’m bragging on other peoples’ threads. I may be getting completely unbearable.)[/quote]

Thats it exactly. Please share how you do it, any tips I can get I’m excited to learn. Congrats on you meet, feel free to brag, gives me a goal to strive for.

My chiro pretty much said no DL no squat but I’ve never been a good listener and honestly I feel better now than I have in years. Mine curves from the pelvis to the left through the lumbar, back to the right through thoracic and back left in the cervical, the twist is in mostly the lumbar.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, I’m excited to be here and ready to get to know everyone. It’s funny how each area of this site holds different people and unless you go to those sections you may not know someone exists yet they’ve been here all along.

Without further ado, squats!

Warm up
barx10
135x5
175x5
205x5

working
250x3
285x3
320x2 (theres a story)

single leg curls
25x15
50x15x15x10x10

curls and shit…

Since I’ve only been back to squatting for about a 1-1.5 years I’ve been using a bench as a guide, it helps me focus on the movement(back tight, eyes up, head back etc…) not so much on depth. Last week I posted a video of my squat session over in BOI 8 and was told that I was high and should dump the bench, so I did. Still have a problem getting to depth but everything seemed to be going ok so I just went about this weeks lifts as scheduled. Got to 320 and forgot there was no bench below me and I guess panic’d, I don’t really know, (I squat low bar) regardless the bar ended up on the back of my neck and the 2nd rep was more of a 320lb good morning. I got it up and racked thought I really fucked up but it just freaked me out a little, /squat session.
I’m going to keep working on my free squatting but may lower the weight for a bit until I get it down.

[quote]JoeGood wrote:

[quote]dday wrote:

[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Welcome

I’ve done the warrior dash and its pretty freaking easy. One thing to remember though is to wear stuff you won’t mind throwing away at the end of the day.[/quote]

Thanks, JoeGood. I plan to take throw away clothes, a trash bag and a change of clothes. Do you run a lot? I’m seriously concerned about my conditioning not being able to hold up for 3.1 miles, up till now I only run when chased.[/quote]

I used to run a lot, now only rarely. The thing about the warrior dash is you aren’t running 3.1 miles. You are really running .25 to .50 miles between obsticles and the obsticles aren’t all that difficlut so you’ll get several chances to catch your breath.[/quote]

Ahhhhh ok, I hoped that was the case.

OK, I’m not an ortho doctor, so don’t assume I have the magic bullet.

My scoliosis is 2 C curves. One in the lumbar, one in cervical. Both point right, the lumbar is more pronounced. I pretty much ignore the cervical. The lumbar one seems to act to get me to bend under load, don’t know how true it is but seems to feel that way. I wonder if yours would act more like a spring in your spine, check with a specialist.

Two types, idiopathic and functional. Idiopathic means from birth, functional means weird muscle action pulls it out of place. I think idiopathic is more common. I’ve heard of exercises which can straighten scoliosis, in Europe, not here. Don’t know if it helps idiopathic.

My goal has been to strength the muscles and ligaments in the back to hold everything in place. It started with rehab work years ago with an ortho specialist. Weeks of exercises, seemed easy but pretty exhausting. Then started all over with deadlifts. Very very light, lots of reps, just working the area. Exercises on controlling the back, arching the back, etc. Which is always good to do anyway if you’re lifting. think of it as working the core. No belt or anything, just work on tensing muscles.

I’ve experimented with hanging from a chin bar between sets of deadlifts to straighten out the spine. Seems to help. When sitting against a hard surface, like for a leg press, my back used to touch it in all sorts of places and not others. Tried adjusting and working my posture until I can sit back and touch almost perfectly.

Goals to shoot for: I’ve always been a pretty scrawny kid and took endless years of training to build any strength at all. (Visit “Hard Work” for the sob story.) Yesterday I walked onto the platform in front of a couple hundred people, grasped a bar weighting 275 lbs and yanked that baby up like a sack of garbage. My back felt great.

Have you looked into this article from a few months ago?.. admittedly some of it was a bit over my head, but I have the attention span of a goldfish.