Hi
My name's Mike and I've just started my fitness journey. I've become fed up with being out of breath in climbing a couple flights of stairs, I'm struggling to keep up with my kids and it's not a pretty sight in the mirror.
I'd like to throw a couple questions out there to help me along and it'd be great to hear your stories.
What was your single biggest challenge or difficulty in starting off in becoming fit? How did you overcome it?
Thanks for sparing the time to read this.
Mike
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Thread: Biggest challenge?
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06-15-2016, 03:48 PM #1
Biggest challenge?
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06-15-2016, 03:51 PM #2
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06-15-2016, 03:56 PM #3
- Join Date: Jun 2009
- Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Posts: 9,482
- Rep Power: 0
I have a medical condition, it's called laziness.
Honestly that is the biggest challenge. Injuries, health conditions, whatever - people with far worse than you or I have done a lot despite them, people with far less have thrown up their hands and said it's impossible. Laziness.
You'll need to squat, Mike.
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06-15-2016, 04:08 PM #4
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06-15-2016, 05:16 PM #5
- Join Date: Jul 2011
- Location: New York, United States
- Posts: 15,251
- Rep Power: 123365
My biggest issue when I first started was coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't out train a bad diet. Tracking everything I ate helped me more than any rep on the bar ever did.
☻/
/▌
/ \ Don't care what you do crew.
Former natty ☠101- lift heavy things consistently over time as often as you can recover from.
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06-15-2016, 06:54 PM #6
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06-15-2016, 07:01 PM #7
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06-15-2016, 07:22 PM #8
when you want it badly enough - then its no longer a challenge, its just a focus on a goal
if your half hearted at all, then after a few hard sessions, the craving for the sofa, beer and chips, will overcome the desire to get into better shape
if you are competitive by nature that will give you an advantage, as you will want to do better than you did on previous training sessions
If you have an addictive type personality, that can also work to your advantage, the same addictive personality that got you caught up in the sofa,TV, Beer and chips lifestyle , can be directed towards, training , eating right and getting fitter, stronger, leaner lifestyle ( if any of those are your aims - for the power lifters,strongmen types, leaness is a luxury they may not require)
finding a routine as suggested above is a very good 1st step
as is tracking your calorie intake Via Myfitness pall or similar
giving yourself a virtual pat on the back for every day you achieve your targets in the gym or in the kitchen
focus on positives, do not dwell on negatives.We all have off days in the gym or with our diets - work hard to ensure they are the exceptions and not the rule
make a commitment - tell everyone you know about it, that will help keep you accountable, as nobody wants to go back to their friends/ family a few weeks later and admit they failed.☻/
/▌ Sm2sm crew (---Squat Moar to Squat Moar---)
/ \
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06-15-2016, 07:43 PM #9
Couldn't agree more with all the above posts...just do it, and keep doing it. My biggest screwup when i was young enough to have made a bigger difference was in nutrition. Like above poster said. "you can't out train a bad diet". I just did't 'get' it. At my age diet is a HUGE part of the program, without which I'm spinning my wheels.
One thing I can offer is to get to a point where the routines are on a sort of autopilot, where you genuinely enjoy the lifting and miss it if you don't make time for it in your schedule. At that point you will see results, slowly but surely. Many get caught up in "ultimate" routines of sets/reps, unless you're at championship levels ***getaboutit. Secret is, there ain't one....eat good stuff, lift heavy ****...repeat!
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06-17-2016, 02:32 AM #10
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06-17-2016, 02:38 AM #11
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06-17-2016, 04:08 AM #12
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06-17-2016, 10:59 AM #13
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06-17-2016, 02:17 PM #14
Hi Mike
Nice one deciding to make a change...
Biggest challenge is not believing how simple it is. I can't post links but go to the losing fat forum and read the sticky 'Losing fat for noobs Part II' by Wavelength.
Three short sentences contain it all, I think.
All you have to do is figure out how to do those three things in your unique life.
And I said simple, not easy
Welcome and best of luck
Neo
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06-17-2016, 03:10 PM #15
- Join Date: Dec 2006
- Location: South Carolina, United States
- Age: 44
- Posts: 18,170
- Rep Power: 160902
Showing up...consistently. I found that if I want to train consistently, I have to move my workout around my life, not the other way around. I'd love to have the kind of life where I can say "I lift at this time on these days, and life better get outta my way!" But that's not the case. Life will provide excuses for most of us to skip workouts. One of the things that separates the people who's bodies we envy and the rest of the world is...they make it happen. If it means getting up super early, I do it. If it means working out super late, I do it. If it means working out with no equipment, I do it.
ALL I ASK IS ALL YOU GOT FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES
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06-17-2016, 04:43 PM #16
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06-17-2016, 05:09 PM #17
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06-17-2016, 05:10 PM #18
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06-17-2016, 05:23 PM #19
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06-17-2016, 05:38 PM #20
Just going and doing it. I wake up at 3:15am just about everyday to make myself have time to train. It was a big adjustment to change my sleep pattern etc, but I just made myself go and do it. I have about 2.5 years in now and have yet to miss a single workout. If I need to move one for recovery etc, I will but I have yet to just blow one off....You just make it happen at first, as time goes on you look forward to it (most days).
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06-17-2016, 07:00 PM #21
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06-17-2016, 07:09 PM #22
yes that was exactly why I started
a single incident got me to want to make the changes
I had been obese for a decade and it had not concerned me
but on this particular day, I was out in the park with my son and our small dog
Dog slipped the lead and ran off - 4 year old ran after it, I could not catch either ( I was only concerned about 1 of them )
eventually out of breath and concerned that my son was getting further and further away in his attempts to recapture our dog, I had to resort to shouting loudly at him to stop ( I was not angry, I was just concerned)
that one incident fired me up to diet and lose 45lb in 12 months also was jogging and cycling regulary, until I got to the stage, my son could not out run me or run for as long as I could ( I know this because I put it to the test occasionally LOL)
sadly I went a full 12 months without picking up any weights, so whilst my fitness improved and I was no longer obese
I was a Lawn Dart , and after finding this site and realising I was a lawn dart, I have spent the last 2.5 years attempting to gain a bit of weight but not all around my midrift☻/
/▌ Sm2sm crew (---Squat Moar to Squat Moar---)
/ \
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06-17-2016, 07:29 PM #23
^This all day long. You need to grind it out until the above becomes a habit. Unfortunately, I think 95% of people never get to this point before they give up. Once the training becomes a habit...it will actually be enjoyable. I know I look forward to my time in the gym every day. I never would have thought that in the beginning. Consistency with your diet will be the harder of the 2 imo. It never really becomes enjoyable but with time and consistency it will become tolerable.Well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory...pause
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06-17-2016, 07:33 PM #24
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06-17-2016, 07:40 PM #25
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06-17-2016, 08:38 PM #26
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06-18-2016, 01:52 AM #27
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06-18-2016, 05:41 PM #28
I think my biggest challenge has been financial. I can't afford to join a gym or get coaching and I've nearly damaged myself/ nearly killed myself often enough that unspotted weights in the garage is finally and for sure out. Overcame that by finally saving up $100 dollars and tracking down a decent cable machine.
Next biggest challenge is going to be program ADHD. I am constantly trying to maximize effort/results so I migrate between programs like you wouldn't even believe. I was able to stay with a high weight program for almost two years but some things about that had to change and I've never been able to go back. It will either be that or frustration with the lack of weight on the machine. I've had it a week now and been really happy with it so for so hopefully wont have to deal with that for a while.
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06-18-2016, 05:56 PM #29
For me it's patience and trying to keep my sanity. Although, my body fat is on the lower side I don't see my abs fully yet. I've been dieting and doing cardio for some time now and seem to be getting nowhere. I know what I'm doing is working by whey of tape measure around waist and scale but not at the rate I'd like. I've been in this situation many times and know I'll get to stage ready condition on time but it still is challenging each and every time mentally.
Consistency is the key!Every day counts.
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I has a PHmuthaf'nD in Broscience!
ntrllftr > azstrengthlosscouchpotato
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06-18-2016, 07:26 PM #30
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