Health & Fitness, I think this is a first...... Options

[Robert]

This may be the 1st Health and fitness type post in MOBclan's 5+ year history.
Which is kind of interesting all by itself seeing as how varied the topics tend to be.

A person at the gym recommended a fitness site to me a few month ago.
So now I'm passing on the suggestion.
If anyone is interested in general fitness/weight lifting.
You should give this site a look
http://stronglifts.com/page/2/
It's a fitness/weight lifting blog with tons of great information.

The whole site is built surrounding whats called
StrongLifts 5×5 ( 5 sets of 5 reps )
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beg...aining-program/
While this is contradictory to most lifting routines, a lot of people have had great results following this guide.

My history.
40 years old.
A little over 2 years ago I decided to get serious about my health.
The 1st thing I did was stop smoking.
Which always tends to put on some weight.
Right about that same time I switched jobs, going form a labor intensive production job to a desk job.
So within a few months after I quit smoking, I had the predictable 15 lbs spare tire around my midsection.
A few months after that I started jogging and hitting the gym to get the weight off
Not real seriously but I was trying.
After about 3 months of working out, my endurance level was up but I still had my spare tire.
So I took the next step, signed up for a mini triathlon to help get me motivated.
5 mile run, 1 mile swim. 20 mile bike.
Needless to say, I thought I was going to die.
It was a real humbling experience, seeing a 65 year old pass me by without breaking a sweat.
Not to mention the overweight soccer mom who did the swim in half my time.

So I turned up the intensity of my workouts but I still wasn't happy with the results.
Just as I was about to get rid of my spare time, lighting strikes.
I developed small tears in my Achilles tendon.
Something which still hasn't healed all the way.
It forced me to switch from mostly cardio to more weight lifting.
I spent the next 5-6 months hitting the weights pretty steady.
With very small gains and the tire started to come back
One day I just happen to mention to the person who was using the squat rack right before me that my goal was to NOT need to remove weights after he used it.
He was a average size guy but was squatting 80lbs more than my norm.
He laughed, said that was never going to happen because I was doing it wrong.
He was real nice about it, gave me some tips and recommended I start over using the
StrongLifts 5×5 guide.
Long story short.
In 14 weeks after switching to this and using the information available on the site, I easily passed my initial gains which took me close to 6 months to do the 1st way..
In the same period I haven't lost a single pound but have dropped 3 inches from my waist.
So I'm slowly converting any excess fat to muscle.

Doing 5x5 has shown great results for me.
Not claiming to be a body builder by any means. In fact, size wise I can't really tell any difference except I'm missing my spare tire.
The real change is I'm definitely stronger than I have probably ever been.
I'm on pace to hit the magic number of squatting 2x my weight in the next few weeks.

Sorry for the long read, just thought I should offer some background.
BTW if anyone does this, post back with your results.
Or for that matter, share any fitness/lifting info you have.

[Bargod]

Druid, I haven't looked at the5x5 yet, but I will and I look forward to it.
It looks to me that we hit the same conclusion at about the same time. I quit smoking about 2 1/2 years ago and changed my diet and started working out.
The biggest difference came from taking out as much trans fat and as much high fructose corn syrup from my diet as I could. when I started this I was pushing 230. I didn't start because of my weight, really. I started for a couple of reasons, one being my health. I've got crohn's disease, which is an intestinal disease. I had an abscess in my intestines about 6 months after I started "getting in shape". Everything had been going well health-wise, but I figured my wife goes to the YMCA to work out, I should too.
Anyway, I get the abcess and the Doc gives me news that things are taking a turn for the worse and that happens at the same time I find out how bad trans fats and HFCS are for you. So, the whole family does it's best to change it's diet. Not really change what we eat, but get the slightly more expensive, but healthier versions.
The difference is that I'm now 180 lbs. at 6'1".
I plan on adding mass. If it weren't for the Crohn's I'd probably be a beast. The way I was eating and working out in highschool nobody understood why I wasn't getting bigger muscle-wise. We had trainers from Ohio State come and consult with us on our workout programs. These guys saw me get stronger and ovesaw my eating and didn't get why I wasn't gaining mass. It was because I was malnurished. The food I ate passed through me without giving off the essential bits.
Anyway, I'm healthy now and gaining a bit in size based mostly on my old highschool routine. It's not as intense as highschool, but I don't have the patience or time (well, just the patience, probably) to do the full routine I really need to do.
I know several professional trainers and have gotten varied advice about what I should be doing.
A guy I met most recently (about 6 months) tells me that the protien powder drinks I'm taking after the workout are just helping me lose weight, not gain mass.
He recommends Creatine, which I've been hesitant to try. I'm not trying to get huge, but like I said, I was malnurished when I was a teen, so I'd like to fill out and not be as skinny as I am (not the skinniest guy, but if you look at my dad you know I could be bigger muscle wise).
So, that's my story for now.
I'll give the 5x5 a look over and maybe tomorrow give my general routine info. For now I'm going to just look over the 5x5 routine.

Thanks.

[Canadian Viper]

I have been working out for several years now mostally just to keep fit. The one thing I have seen is that there are all kinds of programs and tips. You have to try and see what works best for yourself. Curently, I have hit a plateau and the 5x5 is a program that will be good to break it.



This is also a very good site for information http://www.bodybuilding.com/index.html



Bargod, I also have Crohn's, 22 years now, and with two operations it is now in returning is two places. It is very hard some days to do anything, but the diet is important to stick too.



Thanks