A close friend is on Team USA for Kettlebell International and is an elite crossfit trainer, but not my deal. WAY too expensive for me. His gym charges about $300/mo for Crossfit training. They offered a free session once a month and I signed up for the one in March. We'll see, but I definitely won't be dropping the cash to join. Golds is 1/10th of that.
Many thanks to the site and all the contributors. Great source of info.
I do pay $100 but I use the crap out of it. I do weight lifting and CrossFit. Usually heavy weights in the morning
and CrossFit WODs in the evening for conditioning.
Finally found a thread where I can share my experiences and hopefully maybe help with some health and dieting. I'm new to trading but I've been with fitness (as in diet, endurance training, heavy lifting) for over 8 years now. I had been playing basketball and volleyball professionally in the past as well (I'm 6'2) so being active is a must for me.
Currently I've had some time off the gym but I'm going back in 4 weeks, I've already have my diet in place. I've got a bit too fat and my discipline, commitment etc went away with it. Found some comfort in eating instead of gym lifting. Long story short - turning this around.
As to initial questions:
Running etc
Don't run, don't want to ruin my joints (especially on hard surfaces) - but do 10-20mins slow job depends on my overall fitness goal (short term) and it increases brain capabilities, also I play tennis, basketball and volleyball when possible - not so much in London though.
How often
I do go to the gym 3-4x week (depends on short term goal may add some cardio or HIIT), play tennis on non gym days. May increase cardio in spring->summer months to lose more fat - again depends on my percentage and how I feel. Don't have dogs but would love to - sadly I cannot :/
How does it feel
Amazing, especially when people start seeing results they are hooked and motivated. I'm sharper, stronger, stay awake longer, perform better in life in general and have more motivation towards everything. It's a big boost.
Unable to exercise
Guilty and trying to compensate for lost (workout, cheat meal or something). Obviously it's impossible, the key point is consistency over time (just like with trading - trying to take my own advise and apply to trading at least).
Gadgets
I'd been using simple spread sheets for years but 2-3 years ago started using FitnessPal as the food tracker. I've tried fitbit - well don't need it really once I have my routine. As to fitness progress it goes down to plain old pen and paper - unfortunately cannot draw statistics from it but maybe I will start with bodyspace again - but don't want my fitness to be overtaken by technology.
Following Big Mike approach of being transparent I would like be transparent over here as well as I think it will benefit my trading more, being healthy, helpful and honest I would paste bodyspace profile (I haven't updated it for over a year, will do that over this weekend) but it may be taken in the wrong way so I'm going to restrain myself from doing it.
@Massive l - sorry in my opinion it's a dangerous game (snapcity), what's your long and short term goal if you don't mind?
@chr1s;487287 - everything athletic is dangerous. My goals are to be as strong and athletic as possible while having endurance and staying relatively lean (9-10% bf)
You realize weightlifting is in the Olympics? You realize weightlifting (oly lifting) makes up about 70% of crossfit. It takes an extreme amount of mental fortitude and athleticism to snatch and clean/jerk at a high level. Strength and technique are only part of it. The mental game behind it far exceeds the pounds on the bar (the easy part).
Well an old saying says that (for a regular person) every additional weight you carry may cause injuries and the best is to exercise using only your weight (but we know one has to add weights at some point to stimulate muscle hypertrophy).
I myself would not go for crossfit at all - there are much better tools (safer as well) for specific goals than crossfit. I was taught differently to what crossfit is nowadays. What I excercise is not who I am, it's who I am is what I do and why I'm healthy - it comes from within and don't need a class or others as well. In the end of the day everybody is different, I'm not judging you and if you've done your trials and crossfit works for you then by all means continue but please be careful with it and use proper technique
May I ask what is your current dietary plan?
cheers
Chris
Consistency over time
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Got into lifting weights ala Rippetoe a few years ago, have been out of it since we moved to Chicago last summer. Finally starting to get back into things. Always enjoyed the feeling of strength, but now I'm going to work on endurance as well. I've learned that whatever activity you're doing, be it running or crossfit or powerlifting, there's no reason to exclude other athletic endeavors if the mood strikes. Always down to learn something new.
The only veritable truth is if you're not lifting with Yorks, then you're not really lifting.
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dietary plan is 40% carbs, 30% protein 30% fats rotating in higher carbs or higher protein depending on the day.
crossfit is basically HIT with gymnastic and weightlifting. It's not new...but now it's a brand. football, rugby, hockey, etc. have been using this style of workouts for decades. I say crossfit so it's easy for people to understand how I train. What I'm really doing is powerlifting, weightlifting with HIT circuits. I also run ( just did a 10.2 mile trail race) and row. I'm currently at 335k meters on the year which averages out to about 2 miles of rowing a day. CF also uses a ton of bodyweight movements as well.
is this crossfit or powerlifting? It's powerlifting but crossfit uses it in their programming. Again cf is just a brand but at the end of the day, it's just working out competitively, usually under a time cap.
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All about those Yorks huh? They look nice. I'm partial to Pendlay for weightlifing as most of my PRs are with them. Never tried a York. I've used Pendlay, Elieko, and Rogue.
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lol I guess I should've specificied old Yorks, pre-1990s. I've a got a few bumpers and milled plates from that era.
But I also have 25kg pair of Eleikos training I found on craigslist, rogue bars, elitefts ssb, and other goodies. I sold a bunch of stuff before the move. it's a shame I don't use what I have left and have joined a gym.
people rave about the pendlays, but i've never used them myself.
just the basic powerlifts. i'm basically starting over after not having lifted for almost a year. i'm starting to row a bit on a C2, and would like to ramp that up for endurance. do you have any recommendations on programs to follow? I found The Pete Plan online and was thinking about using it.
I follow a similar protocol to Gray Skull Linear progression for overhead press, deadlift, and bench. I follow a modified Wendler program for back and front squats. For endurance I just try to row about 4k a day. I may do it all at once or I may do 4 x 1000m. Then I also throw in a CF workout about 2x a week.
geez, sounds like a crapload of work. very nice. do you lift 2 days and CF 2 days?
i'm starting off with a home brew until i get reacquainted with the bar, then would like to do juggernaut. i've never done greyskull. I 've done wendler before but progress/volume were too slow for my liking. my focus for the next 6 months to a year is going to be bench, row, and deads, trying to get them to some respectable numbers.
It is a lot of work but the gym is where I feel the best (or on the golf course or outdoors camping).
So for me it seems like the perfect amount. I lift 4 to 5 days a week. About 3 days a week I do 2-a-days.
That's where I'll usually get in more rowing or a CF workout.
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@jackbravo - Also, I recommend getting the C2 ergdata app on your phone and a usb cable from your phone to the C2 rower. It tracks everything for you. Pretty cool! Also updates it to an online log on their website as well.
Thought I'd bump this thread. I lift weights 5 times a week, usually before my morning session in my home gym. Been doing so for about 10 months now. Used to weigh 270lbs, now down to a cool 198. Got the girls going nuts.
Anyone else lift before their morning session? I wake up at 5:30AM everyday for it. Takes some getting used to, but it is the GOAT time to work out. Test is always higher in the AM, so my workouts are beast-like.
I lift just before market close until I pick up my son from elementary, 2-3 days a week in my garage. Would like to do 4 days ,but that's harder to be consistent with.
I am up before 4 every day and so some yoga and pushups, just to get the blood flowing.
Later in the morning I do a half hour to an hour of walking. Walking is my core exercise.
I have a very good uphill walk that I do about once a week. It has one pitch of about 100 M that is about a 20% grade. I like to sprint that one. If I am feeling a lot of pep I will do a set of sprints on that section, and maybe a couple of other pitches on the route to the top of the hill. Whole walk takes about three hours, ending with a soak at hot springs.
I prefer the short sprints to jogging.
I also do sprints on the stairmaster in preparation for weight training.
I am in the gym about two or three times a week working out on machines and barbells. My number one goal at this point in the training, since I am now a senior, is to not get injured. So I am taking it slow and steady. Usually I do a set of
yoga and meditation at the gym before weightraining.
I think most people would call me a health nut or something like that....for me, I'm 37 now and have been doing this all my life, I cannot imagine another way to live. I've fallen off the wagon a few times over the years and let my health go to shit, always at times of high stress....and my life starts to unravel. Feeling good and being healthy are core to me doing anything of substance in life.
I grew up lifting weights, playing sports etc. After college began training boxing and MMA. I ran alot sporadically over the years, never cared for a marathon but a 5-7 mile run feels great anytime. Currently I lift weights 2x week, train jiujitsu about 3x a week, and usually run, do mitt work, or rounds on a bag once or twice. Alot of it depends on my time, weight training and bjj are my core activities now.
My diet is very tight as well. Essentially never any processed carbs, mostly avoid alcohol. I would estimate pretty accurately that 95% of the what I'm eating each week consists of grassfed beef, wild caught salmon, a ton of avocados, a ton of shiitake, maiake, oyster etc mushrooms, a lot of cruciferous veggies (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc), a lot of whole eggs, raw almonds for snacks.
I imagine that sounds very regimented for a lot of folks....if you tried it out of the blue I'm sure it would be. But I've been like this my whole life so its really the sum total of years and years of trying to build the healthiest habits I can. So at this point, its my baseline, its just what I do. I don't really know another way, and I kid you not, the food that most people find hard to resist and tempting...."junk" food....I have zero appetite for.
If there was one single thing I could recommend someone else do to improve their health....hmm I guess I would have to say exercise....but honestly, cutting out sugar and processed carbs is an incredibly close second. If you can do both consistently, you are seriously prob 85% of the way to being as healthy as you can be.
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