I've been hanging out for awhile on JSF and finally decided to put some shots out here to keep me motivated. I've been working out consistently for 6 days a week doing cardio followed by weights in the morning before heading out to work for about 2 months. I'm 42 years old and I got tired of being out of shape and feeling old. I made a vow to myself that on by my 43rd B-day, I would be:

1. Down to my pre-marriage weight of 205 lbs (started at 247).
2. Have a healthier lifestyle and healthier body.
3. Do whatever I can healthwise to be around as long as possible for my two children.

Finding this site has been a great motivational tool for learning and has helped out tremendously in getting me headed in the right direction.

Thanks!

Ken Q-man

Deffinitely making progress!!! Keep up the good work, I can see there's alot of muscle mass hiding under te fat :tu:.

man, you are already lookin good!

kind of alarming to me that people's before shots have less of a pregnant look to their bellies than my after shots do

what do we think THATS about? cause im really getting sick of the freakin spare tire.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Great progress!!
I like those goals of your too, keep up the good work. You have a great muscular base, so at 205 I'm sure you'll looked jacked.

:tu:

I have similar goals. This site has also inspired me to conceive the goal, believe the goal and of course ACHIEVE the goal. My goal: 6ft 205lbs 5% BF. I'm currently at 220 after a 3-5 month LAYOFF!!! :gl:

Thanks for the words of encouragement for those of you who responded :D Getting and staying in shape is hard work man! Too many distractions, too many temptations, and wayyyyy too easy for one missed workout to turn into two..two into three..etc. I fall off the boat every now and then but so far it's been 2 months and counting and I haven't missed a scheduled workout yet. I know what my weakness is and it is a constant struggle. I have a weight problem---I can't wait to eat! That is why this site is so important to me and my goals. I know that there are others out there facing some of the same obstacles and I gain strength from everyone's accomplishments. That is what helps me to get up at 4:45 am 6 days a week. This site is like a drug---I have to hit it two, sometimes three times a day. Not that I do drugs or anything.

Your chest has potential to be huge. Just keep up the schedule and focus on sticking to the plan. I fall of the wagon sometimes too but it's all from a lack of focus.

How tall are you? How much do you weigh now? (not that your weight is that important in the short term-just seeing how you've progressed from 247.)

Thanks Nico,

Right now I'm down to 221 lbs. I am 6'0 tall. I started working out on 19 July 2004 and my goal is to get down to 205 by May 15th 2005. The weight loss has slowed down to a crawl, but I think that I'm still losing inches.

Ken

That is amazing progress. You'll be at 205 before you know it. There is tons of muscle starting to come through.

This is somewhat controversial to some people-but I would recommend doing a short warmup and then hit the weights, with cardio at the end of the workout. The reasons are as follows:

1. You can lift heavier because you're not tired from the cardio.
2. Your mental focus is better when you lift which helps your technique and reduces the chance of injury.
3. When you hit the cardio, you can really give it 110% because you know you're done when it's over.

I'm cutting for this month so I'm really focused on cardio but I still do my weight routine first (after a 5 minute warmup on the bike)

Also, you may want to incorporate some kind of routine at home since it looks like you workout really early in the a.m. and that's it. You could hit abs at least.

The reason that I do cardio first is because of my time crunch. I know that I have a set amount of time to get the cardio in and can focus on doing 45 minutes at 70-75 percent of my max HR or 25 minutes of HIIT (I alternate weeks at both). Once the cardio is out of the way, I can then focus on my lifting. If I do my weight first, I feel that it may take me past my 1 1/2 hours that I have to work out in.

I am somewhat limited as far as lifting too heavy because I do it at home by myself. The heaviest dumbbells I have are 80 lbs and I use those for my chest exercises (incline press, flat bench press, flys). I do have an olympic weight set, but the barbell bench press is not my strongest exercise and like I said, I don't want to push it too hard.

I am doing ab work at least 3 times a week.

I am kinda new to the whole lifting thing and I know that to really get the results, I'll probably need to push myself much harder that I am. I guess that I'll be heading out to pick up some 90 lb dumbbells shortly. :nod:

It sounds like you've got a good routine going-90 pound dumbells are a serious challenge. I'm still stuck on 75 pounds for dumbell presses and I'm setting up a home gym myself in my new house. I'll probably go up to 80's but I don't even look over at the 90's.

If you can even sniff the 100's than you've got a hell of a lot of strength.

Do you have a cardio machine that you use at home?

Ken

the investment to get heavier dumbbells is worth the cost. I've gotten to the point where I can bench 120lb dumbbells and we're about the same size. I usually incline press with 90-100lbs. Sure, I maybe a little stonger than you now, but I can see you lifting that kind of weight if you continue to progress.

As stated in an earlier post, you should try to get your weight training in BEFORE serious cardio. Doing cardio first will cause you to deplete your energy levels and you will not have anything left in the tank to give your weight training any justice.

You can follow a split where you weight train M,T Th & F and do cardio on weds and sat. You can always kick-up the cardio later. Once you start gaining decent muscle mass your RMR should increase and you will become a walking calorie (fat) burner.

Don't forget to consider another VERY important factor in your program, Nutrition. You need to FEED your muscles in order to grow. It's not uncommon to consume 200-300 grams of protein in addition to the same amount of carbs.

cj

kenqman,

Hope you're still plugging away towards reaching your goal. Haven't seen any updates lately. STAY FOCUSED

kenqman,

Hope you're still plugging away towards reaching your goal. Haven't seen any updates lately. STAY FOCUSED

Thanks for hitting me back Strides! I went out of town to NY last weekend and and in two days I totally blew the diet! I tried to be good, but how the hell can you eat healthy when you are out and about enjoying yourself! When I came back I had went from 221 to 227. I knew that I would gain a little, but I wasn't expecting to put on 6 lbs in this short period of time! I knew that most of it was excess water, but it is frustrating to see the scale go up like that. I've been working hard this past week with the weights and getting back to eating the "right" way and have since gone down to 222 lbs. :)

I did take your recommendation on the split. I also followed your suggestion of doing the 5 mins of warmup cardio before lifting. I am only doing cardio 3 times a week and it is taking some getting us to because I was doing it 6 days a week before. Using this method has allowed me to hit the weights a little harder though as I have more time to put in in the morning. I do have a lot of fat to lose and I hope that cutting back on the cardio will not slow down the fat loss.

Oh yeah, I went out and bought the 90lb dumbbells. They were a little pricey (59 cents a pound ea.), but I think that they will be worth it. My wife thinks that I'm crazy as hell though! :D She says that I'm going to get a hernia!

Again, thanks for pushing me. It's just what I need!

Ken Q