Goals?

[PizzaDad]

PizzaDad, Never built an orchard or cidery, but it sounds very interesting. I'm working an exhausting land development project on my weekends as well.*You can hit those goals. To gain faster and recover under your current circumstances: eat, eat, eat, and sleep, sleep, sleep! Your lifts will go up with your weight. I eat a lot and supplement protein and carbs between meals. Fighting my way up to 240 now.

I have been eating about 200 grams of protein a day during the week, but on the weekend it is falling sometimes to half that. This week I bought a new shake bottle and I am going to package up some whey protein into single servings zip lock bags and take the with me to start the day with a good 50 gram shake. That way If I force myself to break twice to eat 30-40 grams of protein each break, I can eat a decent dinner and finish the day with another shake and maybe I won't come home 5-6 lbs down. Literally, I went from 219 to 212 in 5 days that I was up there clearing and planting two weeks ago. This past weekend, I had built back up to 216 and came home at 213. I know that my body composition has become more muscular in the last 3 months. My thighs and my arms and back are definitely more muscular, But my weight is almost unchanged. I was 212 when I started.

[Bestafter60]

You're on the right path, assuming you're eating a full breakfast and lunch along with the shakes. Some of your weight loss is probably dehydration. It was for me. If I drank beer towards the end of a long day and felt buzzed after the first bottle, I knew I was dehydrated. If I drank 32 oz of water I'd feel like getting back after it.

[skid]

We have orchards of all kinds around us in Southern Illinois, apples, peaches, pears, cherries. Lotta work just to maintain the trees and properties on an established one. Clearing land and getting one going in one generation must be a real task. On the order of the pioneers.

I bought a ten acre property 12 years ago that had large second growth forest on it as it was originally logged in the late 18th/early 19th century. I have cleared perhaps 5 acres of it to plant blueberries, apples, pears, cherries, hazelnuts and walnuts. Some of the trees I cleared were 3 feet of more in diameter and 100 feet tall and were a little scary to fall for this prairie boy.

I have a large utility tractor with a grapple which has helped a lot and I've hired excavators to dig out stumps and push a few trees over. But it is still incredibly difficult work. Something has to be done with all the trees and branches and stumps. The ground needs to be leveled, roots need to be removed, irrigation needs to be installed, new trees have to be purchased/planted mulched/pruned/etc. It's taken me 10 years to get as far as I have on a part time basis similar to Pizza Dad and my orchard is finally starting to look like one. Now I have to find a market for all the fruit. I juiced 40 gallons of apple cider last year alone.

I also have to keep ahead of the bears/deer/squirrels/coons/jays/etc. I put up a 5 foot tall electric fence to keep the bears out as they do incredible damage to fruit trees. I chased a bear one day and he leaped the 5 foot fence like nothing. Needs to be 7 feet tall to keep the bears out.

[SeanThornton]

It's been fun reading others' goals related to strength training.

I first was exposed to strength training and its benefits, especially as you get older, from reading Rip's occasional columns on PJM. I was finally able to get some room for a home gym in June of '15 (no decent gyms near enough to my house that I'd actually make the effort to go to, sealed the deal that a home gym was the only way for me). Started LP then, and, unfortunately, lost my space 2 months later, and it was a few months before I got back to it. Progressed to 215 SQ, 150 BP, 245 DL (for sets) by last April, and then the wheels fell off the bus again. I'm finally back the last 2 months, now pursuing a one-lift-per-day approach, to solve the issue of rarely have 1.5-2 hours free often enough to get a workout in. Hope to be back to where I was last year soon, and then finish the LP from there. So, short-term, my goal is to just stick with it and progress. My long-term goal is "50s": 150 press, 250 bench, 350 squat, and 450 DL. The numbers are just for fun, and to have a specific goal, but the main benefit is just knowing I'm stronger than 95+% of the guys my age, and am doing something to maintain good health.

There is one funny side-story to this journey. Literally the day after I bought the gear for my home gym, I was working with the disabled adults at our church, and one who I knew pretty well was wearing a Special Olympics gold medal. I asked him what he won it for, and he said, Powerlifting! I didn't even know that was a thing, at the time. I have a teenage son (well, 18 at the time, he's 20 now), and was hoping to get him involved with strength training. He's also autistic. So I asked our school's SO leadership about it, and they said, sounds great, and you can be the coach! Long story short, we had 2 athletes last year (both went downstate and won gold medals), and we have 3 this year, all going downstate next month. My son's gone from 500lb total (last year district), to 610lbs at state, to 710lbs this year at district! His teammate passed him at district, he had a 725lb total! So, strength training has been great as something I share with my son. My goals for him... just stick with it, keep training, and form habits that will help keep him healthy for a long time. I also wouldn't mind seeing him hit a 1000lb total one day

[gnk]

It's been fun reading others' goals related to strength training.

I first was exposed to strength training and its benefits, especially as you get older, from reading Rip's occasional columns on PJM. I was finally able to get some room for a home gym in June of '15 (no decent gyms near enough to my house that I'd actually make the effort to go to, sealed the deal that a home gym was the only way for me). Started LP then, and, unfortunately, lost my space 2 months later, and it was a few months before I got back to it. Progressed to 215 SQ, 150 BP, 245 DL (for sets) by last April, and then the wheels fell off the bus again. I'm finally back the last 2 months, now pursuing a one-lift-per-day approach, to solve the issue of rarely have 1.5-2 hours free often enough to get a workout in. Hope to be back to where I was last year soon, and then finish the LP from there. So, short-term, my goal is to just stick with it and progress. My long-term goal is "50s": 150 press, 250 bench, 350 squat, and 450 DL. The numbers are just for fun, and to have a specific goal, but the main benefit is just knowing I'm stronger than 95+% of the guys my age, and am doing something to maintain good health.

There is one funny side-story to this journey. Literally the day after I bought the gear for my home gym, I was working with the disabled adults at our church, and one who I knew pretty well was wearing a Special Olympics gold medal. I asked him what he won it for, and he said, Powerlifting! I didn't even know that was a thing, at the time. I have a teenage son (well, 18 at the time, he's 20 now), and was hoping to get him involved with strength training. He's also autistic. So I asked our school's SO leadership about it, and they said, sounds great, and you can be the coach! Long story short, we had 2 athletes last year (both went downstate and won gold medals), and we have 3 this year, all going downstate next month. My son's gone from 500lb total (last year district), to 610lbs at state, to 710lbs this year at district! His teammate passed him at district, he had a 725lb total! So, strength training has been great as something I share with my son. My goals for him... just stick with it, keep training, and form habits that will help keep him healthy for a long time. I also wouldn't mind seeing him hit a 1000lb total one day

Great story!

[Ansleigh Williams]

My goal for this year does not really hard to manage and achieve. I just want to get a ripped 6-pack abs and I am sure I can do it by strict diet and workout. I am on my way now burning fat through long duration cardio such as doing interval sprints on my stationary bike. I'm also doing push ups, bicycle crunch and cross crunch. Hopefully, I'm going to achieve my goal in due time.

[johnnys]

My goal for this year does not really hard to manage and achieve. I just want to get a ripped 6-pack abs and I am sure I can do it by strict diet and workout. I am on my way now burning fat through long duration cardio such as doing interval sprints on my stationary bike. I'm also doing push ups, bicycle crunch and cross crunch. Hopefully, I'm going to achieve my goal in due time.

Serious question - wouldn't it be more efficient to just eat less and skip the unweighted exercise?

[Cheesepuff]

My Goals:
- Stick to the program as much as I can, make progress and rehab as required (fun often requires some rehab)
- Have a great time, which includes a lot of kayaking / photography
- Be "useful" for my family, despite being 63 (63 has been a better year than 62 and way better than 61)
- I need to get better at cooking to keep my protein up and move my macros in the right direction

Without my home gym, I'd be screwed. I would have died of embarrassment on my early workouts. I should probably still be embarrassed but I'm over it. LOL.

I would dearly love to squat and dead 405 like the sticker on my vehicle. I'm on the cusp of doing my considerable body weight for 5's in the dead.

You can pull yourself out of "near morbidity", because I have. Continuing down this healthier path is a big deal to me.

When I go to help out with heavy work now, no one tells me to "sit down, you look like you're gonna have a heart attack", or "are you ok?".

Because I am OK.


Walk like a Man - Grand Funk Railroad

[KuiLei]

Started the LP the last week of 2016. Took it until the end of March, when I moved to Andy Baker's "3 or 4 day TM, why not both?" program. This was because I just couldn't manage to do a workout, two rest days, then workout type schedule. So I wound up doing two workouts a week most weeks.

Started:
45kg squat 3x5
80kg deadlift 1x5
45kg BP 3x5
30kg SP 3x5


Currently:

105kg 5RM squat
142.5kg 4RM deadlift
60kg 5RM BP
38kg 5x5 SP

By the end of the year, I'd like to add another 15-20s kg for all lifts. Right now I'm progressing at 2-3 kg per 4 week cycle, so that should be doable. Sometimes the cycle PRs are tough, other times it's cake. DL used to be easy, now it's the toughest. SP and BP used to be completely stalled, now they're moving the easiest...

[PizzaDad]

My Goals:
- Stick to the program as much as I can, make progress and rehab as required (fun often requires some rehab)
- Have a great time, which includes a lot of kayaking / photography
- Be "useful" for my family, despite being 63 (63 has been a better year than 62 and way better than 61)
- I need to get better at cooking to keep my protein up and move my macros in the right direction

Without my home gym, I'd be screwed. I would have died of embarrassment on my early workouts. I should probably still be embarrassed but I'm over it. LOL.

I would dearly love to squat and dead 405 like the sticker on my vehicle. I'm on the cusp of doing my considerable body weight for 5's in the dead.

You can pull yourself out of "near morbidity", because I have. Continuing down this healthier path is a big deal to me.

When I go to help out with heavy work now, no one tells me to "sit down, you look like you're gonna have a heart attack", or "are you ok?".

Because I am OK.

That is one of the best explanations for feeling the need to get stronger, that I have seen. Congratulations. Keep at it.