Fitness 2020

[Eucalyptus]

Simple. Throw down your fitness goals for 2020. Lots of positive encouragement, but keep each other to account :-)


Good luck!

[Eucalyptus]

Here are mine. I'm keeping it simple, though, they are hard.


1. Deadlift 180kg.
My PB which I set in September 2019 is 160kg (bodyweight 93kg...about as heavy as ever. So 172%). I was really happy with this especially as I probably only deadlifted maybe 15 times in the 9 months up to that. Going beyond 160kg will be challenging, though I'm sure I can do it. I'm currently counting my calories the last few weeks and dropped some bodyweight lately, I'm down to 86.0kg. So 180kg would be over 2x Bodyweight deadlift. If I dropped weight this year to 80kg (my goal) then 180kg deadlift would be a 225% BW lift :-)


2. Run 10km in under 60mins.
I've achieved this in the past many many times (heck just on training runs, and pushing a pram!), but not since late 2014. In fact I've hardly done any running in the last five years... I know...bad. This will likely be a bigger challenge than the deadlift one. But I want it in there as cardiovascular fitness and endurance is important to me. I want to be well rounded and not just a strength/power athlete. Dropping bodyweight as I've been doing will make running much much easier especially on my old ankle injury. I can already feel the difference (its huge) having dropped ~4kg in the last month. Keeping up my strength with the heavy lifting will also help protect my ankle and joints for long runs.


Having these two goals for me this year will be really important for me in order to help me achieve balance in my life. I'm into my second and final year of my Nursing Masters (to become an RN), which is intense, I work part time to make ends meet, and I have a primary school age kid that I have half time. With trying to do well in all those things its easy to not go for a run, or not go to the gym, and just coast along or let my fitness and health slide. But I want to be a good role model and a good example to my patients and other student nurses and health professionals I work with. The health and fitness of most health professionals is actually quite shocking. Many are overweight or obese even. Many get back injuries...from poor manual handling but also, literally from never bothering to work on getting stronger. I want to lead the way, and, if you talk the talk you gotta walk the walk!

[APowers]

I don't know that I'll actually be posting any updates, but I actually *have* fitness goals for this year, so here you go.

Goal #1: 100 pushups in 10 minutes. Every day. 5 days a week. Current starting point-- 25 pushups absolute max. IF I pull this off sooner than 6-8 months in, I'd like to add pull/chin-ups as a goal, but that requires actual equipment, so may not actually happen.

Goal #2: Learn to swim (well). Current skill level is "mostly-not-drown" mainly dog-paddle, with a bit of very, VERY terrible crawl/breast stroke. I can *not* tread water. I can probably swim the length of the pool without drowning, but it won't be pretty or fast. If I somehow fell off of a boat or canoe in the middle of a lake or wanted to go legitimately surfing? I'd be doomed. Let alone try to possibly rescue one of my children in such a situation. This means (1) learning proper swimming techniques, (2) learning proper breathing techniques, and (3) overcoming my negative buoyancy through a combination of (1) and (2) [not as bad now as it was when I was younger, but still, even with 100% full lungs, I'm only just barely breaking the surface; something about being approximately 0% body fat probably has to do with it, lol!] To do this, I bit the bullet and signed up for a YMCA membership ($$) since they basically have a monopoly on all the swimming pools in the area.

Goal #3: Flexibility. I have some recurring back/hip pain that I am certain is due to tight/strained core muscles. Goal here is to loosen those muscles up by a combination of posture exercises and stretches. Success here will be no back pain, I guess? I do have some set measurable flexibility goals, so I'll be working towards those, while paying attention to how I feel along the way.

[ender]

My goals are:

1) lose 36 pounds in 2020 at a pace of 3 pounds/month

2) Walk 5k steps a week average for first six months of year and 7.5k the last six months

[Metalcat]

I don't have specific goals, but I'm about to have a lot more free time a lot less physically holding me back, so I intend to spend plenty of quality time in the gym/pool/stairs.

Exercise is simultaneously critical, but also dangerous because of my illness, so it's always a fine balance of strengthening without damaging, and I have a history of over doing...well, pretty much everything.

It will be fun though, I love having facilities in my building, especially in the winter. 

[Metalcat]

Got outside and did ~8500 steps, which is a lot tougher in the snow.

Injured my ankle a bit, but nothing bad, will just have to be careful with it for a few days.

[Arbitrage]

1. Bench press double my weight (or the equivalent with 5 reps)
Don't know if I'll really be able to do it, but I recently had some surprising gains and was getting closer than I ever have.  Need to stay injury-free to have a shot at this, I'd think.  Definitely not something I take for granted in my 40s. 

2. 8 pull-ups with 100 lbs extra
Made it to 90 lbs last year before the holidays set me back, but 100 would be a nice feel-good number

3. Improve dead lift rep weight by at least 30 lbs.
My DL isn't so great.  I'd like to improve.  Probably need to work on my form more.

[Metalcat]

Went to the gym today, no weights, just exercise bike. I was on a "zone out and bike" mood.

[Sailor Sam]

One Goal = don’t get fired for being overweight.

Walked ~1 mile today.

[horsepoor]

My focus is on having good balance, flexibility, aerobic capacity and core strength for riding.

I'd also like to lose 7# to get back to my ideal weight (lost 8 this summer and have been in a plateau for a few months).

Operationally this means:

Run 2x a week
Hit the gym for strength, kettlebells, rowing and stretching.  60 minutes on Sunday and 30 minutes one weeknight.
Walk and ride horses daily.
Stick with the low-carb diet and don't overdo the wine and cheese.

[HJenesis63]

I'm a small university track athlete trying to make the most of my senior season. Hoping to run sub-53s 400m and sub-58s 400h races by May. Also, I want to get more into weight lifting once my track career is done and increase my back squat up to 290# by the end of the year.

[Hula Hoop]

I don't have goals per se and have to limit things a bit due to my health issue but I want to get fitter.  I currently do pilates twice a week and walk a ton (about an hour a day and more on weekends).  This year I plan to go to the gym two lunchtimes per week and do cardio training. 

[lexde]

I do a class-based HIIT gym (it’s an Orangetheory alternative) workout several times per week.

My goals are to do HIIT 3-4x/week & Yoga 1-2x/week.

Plus eating out less (this has ramped wayyyy up) and trying to go outside more for fresh air.

[Metalcat]

5km/3mi walk today, will do some physio as well

[TX2RVA]

Run faster
- 5K <22 minutes
- 10K <48 minutes
- ½ marathon <1 hour 45 minutes

Get stronger
-Squat 225 X 10
-Bench 135 X 10
-12 Pullups
-50 pushups unbroken
-10 toes to bar
-Complete Build, Cut & Move by Natacha Ocean

Become more mobile
-overhead squat 95#

[APowers]

Run faster
- 5K <22 minutes
- 10K <48 minutes
- ½ marathon <1:45 minutes

Get stronger
-Squat 225 X 10
-Bench 135 X 10
-12 Pullups
-50 pushups unbroken
-10 toes to bar
-Complete Build, Cut & Move by Natacha Ocean

Become more mobile
-overhead squat 95#

½ marathon in under 2 minutes. You are WAY more ambitious than any of the rest of us, lol! You don't happen to work for STAR Labs, do you?

[Blissful Biker]

Running
- finish a tough 50K trail run in June 2020 with a smile on my face
- half marathon in April 2020, beating last years time
- 1,000 km minimum in 2020

Mountain Biking
- 600 km minimum in 2020
- climb a local mountain without stopping (getting around those tricky switchbacks)

Yoga
- practice twice a week
- teach once per week

HIIT
- embrace the suffering once per week

And have loads of fun all year!

[Metalcat]

5km/3mi walk today, will do some physio as well

Upped it to over 10K steps, did a bit of cycling in the gym and then some laps in the pool.

The pool is closing for 6 weeks though, which sucks, as that's my "I don't feel like exercising" exercise.

[shapingFIRE]

- gym every day in Jan. after that 5x weekly.
- average 12k steps daily (so far so good! 3 day average 13.7k)
- average 500 active calories (3 day average 568)

- set up a home workout/yoga area (soon) - I need to increase flexibility

- portion control, limit added sugar (except for honey, I like it in my morning greek yogurt) and no more night time snacking

= lose 10 lbs and keep it off (stretch goal of losing 5 of the 10 by end of January!)

[GuitarStv]

- complete a solo 160 km bike ride in under 6 hours, including stops
- break my current top recorded speed (76 kph) on my trusty steel frame touring bike, but finding a steep enough hill to do it on around here is difficult
- squat 220 lbs x 5 during cycling season.  No problem in the winter, but I'm usually 15 lbs lighter in the middle of the summer, and can't hit any of my lift targets.

[Metalcat]

Went swimming this morning. Did not feel like swimming this morning.

[sui generis]

I don't have any specific goals at the moment, but I definitely want to increase my fitness this year generally.  Maybe I can formulate some goals here.  I'm mostly happy with my fitness: after being a non-exerciser for decades, within the last couple of years I've gotten to the point where I feel really crappy, like legitimately ill, if I don't vigorously exercise 3-4 days a week.

But I'm kind of stalled out.  I typically do strength training and HIIT for my formal workouts, alternating between upper and lower body focus.  I use fitnessblender.com for free workouts so I don't have to do too much planning and for the great variety they have.  I haven't worked up to their toughest workouts, so that's definitely where I could push myself.  But what I haven't figured out is why I can't lift heavier in the last year or so.  I'm pretty much stuck at the same weights for everything as I have been for a long time, particularly for the upper body.  Part of it may be that I only have 5lb interval weights at home, so making a 5lb jump in like a chest fly would just be too much for me, whereas maybe I could do a 2 pound increase (per hand)?  I don't know.  I guess the most specific I can get at this time in a goal is to figure out how to make progress in lifting heavier.

I'd also like to just spend more time at it, so I can be in better shape for hiking and other activities.  When I retired, I imagined doing a lot more than 35-55 minutes most days.  But just like when I was working, it seems like I have so many better things to do than spend another hour working out.  So there's another possible goal that I need to concretize to pursue, but it's a start...

Here's the workout I'll be doing today, HIIT and lower body: https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/hiit-cardio-and-butt-and-thigh-workout-hiit-and-strength

ETA: Flexibility!  I used to be uber-flexible and while I still am fairly flexible, I feel age creeping in and limiting my reach and I also get achy more easily and I suspect more flexibility will help with that (though I might be wrong about that - I don't know why I associate more flexibility with less achiness in joints?)

[GuitarStv]

Get some bits of chain in different lengths to use as micro weights.  A 5 lb. Jump is going to be too big for a lot of lifts.

[TX2RVA]

Run faster
- 5K <22 minutes
- 10K <48 minutes
- ½ marathon <1:45 minutes

Get stronger
-Squat 225 X 10
-Bench 135 X 10
-12 Pullups
-50 pushups unbroken
-10 toes to bar
-Complete Build, Cut & Move by Natacha Ocean

Become more mobile
-overhead squat 95#

½ marathon in under 2 minutes. You are WAY more ambitious than any of the rest of us, lol! You don't happen to work for STAR Labs, do you?

HA! Thanks, I fixed it!

[Sailor Sam]

Quick bodyweight circuit today. Pretty weak, but I'm one workout closer to being better.

[Eucalyptus]

Deadlifted 150kg pretty well tonight! Only 10kg down on my PB from last september but I'm a whole 7kg or so lighter in bodymass. So I'm very happy with that. It wasn't a PB attempt but prob 85% effort. Now I just need to consolidate that for a couple of months then have a go. I'm sure I'll jump to 165-170kg.


My weight loss is going very well too. I'm slowly easing myself into running more. Not worried about pace or distance at the moment, just doing 20-30min runs, getting time in the legs. As my weight loss comes down I can increase more safely. I'll start doing some short tempo runs once I get below 80kg.

[Sailor Sam]

Treadmill workout. Broke my first sweat of 2020.

[shapingFIRE]

- gym every day in Jan. after that 5x weekly.
- average 12k steps daily (so far so good! 3 day average 13.7k)
- average 500 active calories (3 day average 568)

- set up a home workout/yoga area (soon) - I need to increase flexibility

- portion control, limit added sugar (except for honey, I like it in my morning greek yogurt) and no more night time snacking

= lose 10 lbs and keep it off (stretch goal of losing 5 of the 10 by end of January!)

1st 5 days:
doing ok on the daily gym (though some days were better than others, but I made it there)
averaging >12K steps and >500 active calories.

But pretty big fail last night on portion control, limiting sugar and no night time snacking due to a belated holiday family gathering. It was at an all you can eat Japanese buffet restaurant. Zero willpower.   

[chaskavitch]

Fitness goals for 2020, woo!

Reduce my resting heart rate to 65-70 bpm
- Currently my fitbit says that my rhr is ~ 80, which is dumb.  My other fitness goals should help with this.

Get at least 8k steps/day. 
- It's not a lot, but it's more than I get right now at my desk job.

"Bike" 3 days a week for at least 20 minutes on my new bike trainer stand, yay!
- I'm planning to do it Sun, Tues, and Friday after the kids go to bed.  DH has concurrently scheduled writing sessions, so we're both well occupied.  I was biking the 2 miles to work 4 days/week before we moved, and I miss it.  This is inferior, but still something.

Get my dead lift past my previous max of 205 lbs
- Both times I've gotten up to 205 through consistent lifting, I found out I was pregnant (planned, but still inconvenient for increasing dead lift weights).  I think right now I'm at MAAAYBE 135 lbs, so it's a reasonable goal for a whole year.
- To this end, I want to lift for 30-45 minutes 2 days/week.  It's not a lot, but I hate lifting at night after the kids go to bed, so I'm finding it hard to make time for.  Still don't have a concrete plan for this, though.

Fast until dinner on Sundays
- This is my only food/weight-related goal.  I am terrible at portion control and snacking (I've gained like 8 lbs since Thanksgiving because we hosted and therefore had all the leftovers forever), but I think having goals for that is counter productive for me.  This is an easy, measurable goal that will help reduce overall intake, and give me a baby reset every week to remind myself what it ACTUALLY feels like to be hungry vs wanting to chew on something tasty.

[Eucalyptus]

Get my dead lift past my previous max of 205 lbs
- Both times I've gotten up to 205 through consistent lifting, I found out I was pregnant (planned, but still inconvenient for increasing dead lift weights).  I think right now I'm at MAAAYBE 135 lbs, so it's a reasonable goal for a whole year.
- To this end, I want to lift for 30-45 minutes 2 days/week.  It's not a lot, but I hate lifting at night after the kids go to bed, so I'm finding it hard to make time for.  Still don't have a concrete plan for this, though.

2 days/wk for deadlifting (and in general) is plenty! Definitely don't be despondent if that's what you have available. Focus on quality lifts, quality repitions. You never really need to do more than 8-10 reps of deadlift in one set (its not a great idea to do more than that as form starts to fail), and more than maybe three sets in a session. If you have the time I highly recommend reading "Power to the People" by Pavel Tsatsouline. Incredible book. In that Pavel basically describes that you only need to do 10 reps TOTAL in a session deadlifting. So it could be 6, 2, 1, 1. Or 5, 5. Or one day you might not feel that strong and just do 10 easy reps in one set and that's it. Pavel is thinking more about someone who trains every day. But many deadlifters (he's explained elsewhere and maybe in this book at points) train only twice per week. His elderly father is an example. And its one "hard" session and one easy session.


Trying to get two sessions in a week like that is pretty much what I focus on myself. In either session I don't do more than 25-30 repetitions. Sometimes I do the classic 5x5. Sometimes I'll pyramid up (eg last night was 10x60kg, 2x100kg, 2x120kg, 2x140kg, 1x150kg...then some pyramid down as I removed plates, 1x140kg, 2x120kg, 4x60kg). This is all done within 30minutes no worries including warm up and stretching after.

[chaskavitch]

Get my dead lift past my previous max of 205 lbs
- Both times I've gotten up to 205 through consistent lifting, I found out I was pregnant (planned, but still inconvenient for increasing dead lift weights).  I think right now I'm at MAAAYBE 135 lbs, so it's a reasonable goal for a whole year.
- To this end, I want to lift for 30-45 minutes 2 days/week.  It's not a lot, but I hate lifting at night after the kids go to bed, so I'm finding it hard to make time for.  Still don't have a concrete plan for this, though.

2 days/wk for deadlifting (and in general) is plenty! Definitely don't be despondent if that's what you have available. Focus on quality lifts, quality repitions. You never really need to do more than 8-10 reps of deadlift in one set (its not a great idea to do more than that as form starts to fail), and more than maybe three sets in a session. If you have the time I highly recommend reading "Power to the People" by Pavel Tsatsouline. Incredible book. In that Pavel basically describes that you only need to do 10 reps TOTAL in a session deadlifting. So it could be 6, 2, 1, 1. Or 5, 5. Or one day you might not feel that strong and just do 10 easy reps in one set and that's it. Pavel is thinking more about someone who trains every day. But many deadlifters (he's explained elsewhere and maybe in this book at points) train only twice per week. His elderly father is an example. And its one "hard" session and one easy session.


Trying to get two sessions in a week like that is pretty much what I focus on myself. In either session I don't do more than 25-30 repetitions. Sometimes I do the classic 5x5. Sometimes I'll pyramid up (eg last night was 10x60kg, 2x100kg, 2x120kg, 2x140kg, 1x150kg...then some pyramid down as I removed plates, 1x140kg, 2x120kg, 4x60kg). This is all done within 30minutes no worries including warm up and stretching after.

That's a good point.  I usually DL the same way I do my other lifting, and that's probably not my best choice.  I wasn't planning to deadlift both sessions, actually.  I've been trying to split my workouts into one DL/front squat/bench session, and one hip thrust/split squat/clean/OHP session.  If I run out of time, the last exercise gets dropped, because it's the one I care about least.  Maybe inefficient, but I'm trying to get a bigger range of strength so I can do all the things with my kids.  Swinging your baby like a kettlebell gets hard really fast :) 

Dead lift is 100% my FAVORITE lift, though, so that's why I'm focusing on it.  If I could only do one lift ever again, it would definitely be deadlift.

[GuitarStv]

I feel like people are a little overconcerned about doing deadlifts too often.  No, you don't want to deadlift heavy every day . . . but I've typically been able to increase my deadlifts best by incorporating it into two sessions a week.  One where the deadlift is worked up to the heaviest weight I can do for five reps, and one where I'm doing ten sets of ten deadlifts going from 40 - 70% of max.  Switching from back to front squats has typically helped my deadlift too.

[mgnhrvth]

Great idea for a post! My goal is to establish good fitness 'systems’ for 2020. I will post updates in this string once/month.

I've grouped my intent into three categories: Rowing, Consistency, and Wellbeing.

1. Rowing
I purchased an Concept2 rower (erg) for my home gym in December 2019. My goal for 2020 is to row 1 million meters. This translates to about 2,739 meters/day or about 83,333 meters/month.  So far, so good - I've been in the 3,000-5,000 meter range everyday so far. Interestingly enough, the equatorial circumference of Earth is about 40 million meters - so I guess the real attempt is to row 1/40th of the equatorial circumference of Earth. And here's hoping that 1 million meters rowed translates to $1 million net worth in 2020 :)

There is also a professional piece to the rowing; it looks like the Navy will allow rowing as part of the cardio component of the bi-annual fitness test. If that happens, I will elect the row option moving forward.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/01/02/prt-shift-what-you-need-to-know-now-about-planking-and-rowing/


2. Consistency
I receive daily fitness programming from Street Parking - basically HIIT/CrossFit style workouts designed for the home gym/hotel gym/travel scenarios. I’ve actually been doing these workouts for the last 2 years but I’ve never logged the workouts I've completed in the Wodify App. Anyway, at both the the 75 and 356 logged workout milestones, I get a t-shirt from Street Parking HQ. I have about 40 logged workouts as of today (6JAN), 2020 plan is to knockout 75 and then 356 logged workouts.
https://streetparking.com 


3. Wellbeing
I want to continue to prioritize my sleep. I work in an environment that, I feel, glorifies exhaustion. I think that maybe America/Americans operate in a culture of exhaustion/sleep deprivation. I want to break this mold/stereotype and show my colleagues and subordinates that an appropriate quality/quantity of sleep is important and achievable. Separately, I usually read 3-4 books per month - plan to continue that throughout 2020.


Bonus Round: I would like to attend a yoga retreat sometime in 2020!

[MaybeBecca]

Recover from surgery
I go for it on Wednesday.  I have loose skin from losing 120lbs over the last several years, that I'm getting removed.  Recovery time is about 2 months (no lifting in that time).

Do more yard work
Gardening, composting, installing rain barrels.  Just generally want to do more in the yard.  It's more of a functional fitness for those tasks, but it's a goal for this year.

Start putting on muscle
Was obese, and now I'm not, but I have little muscle mass.  Next step is to get absolutely shredded.  That's a bit of exaggeration, but I want to have more visible muscle definition, and better strength.  I've been basically getting my body back to the foundation by losing weight, and I'm finally ready to start building something.

Do a pullup and a pushup
I have never been able to do either of these, so doing one non-kneeling pushup and an unassisted pullup would feel pretty amazing.

[brandon1827]

So awesome to read everyone's goals for 2020!

My goals are:

Get my weight down to 180 (currently at 193)
Run another half marathon (done 11, but none in the past 3 years)
Reduce body fat by 5% (not certain where I am currently?)
Continue working out 6-days per week (started this one in December)
Do at least 2, overnight hikes
Continue Intermittent Fasting

Good luck everyone!

[Sailor Sam]

Body weight circuit today. Whence we did bear crawls, mountain climbers, and inchworms. So, like, 50% of the workout was about my shirt ridin’ up towards my ears, and my belly going commando.

[Eucalyptus]

Get my dead lift past my previous max of 205 lbs
- Both times I've gotten up to 205 through consistent lifting, I found out I was pregnant (planned, but still inconvenient for increasing dead lift weights).  I think right now I'm at MAAAYBE 135 lbs, so it's a reasonable goal for a whole year.
- To this end, I want to lift for 30-45 minutes 2 days/week.  It's not a lot, but I hate lifting at night after the kids go to bed, so I'm finding it hard to make time for.  Still don't have a concrete plan for this, though.

2 days/wk for deadlifting (and in general) is plenty! Definitely don't be despondent if that's what you have available. Focus on quality lifts, quality repitions. You never really need to do more than 8-10 reps of deadlift in one set (its not a great idea to do more than that as form starts to fail), and more than maybe three sets in a session. If you have the time I highly recommend reading "Power to the People" by Pavel Tsatsouline. Incredible book. In that Pavel basically describes that you only need to do 10 reps TOTAL in a session deadlifting. So it could be 6, 2, 1, 1. Or 5, 5. Or one day you might not feel that strong and just do 10 easy reps in one set and that's it. Pavel is thinking more about someone who trains every day. But many deadlifters (he's explained elsewhere and maybe in this book at points) train only twice per week. His elderly father is an example. And its one "hard" session and one easy session.


Trying to get two sessions in a week like that is pretty much what I focus on myself. In either session I don't do more than 25-30 repetitions. Sometimes I do the classic 5x5. Sometimes I'll pyramid up (eg last night was 10x60kg, 2x100kg, 2x120kg, 2x140kg, 1x150kg...then some pyramid down as I removed plates, 1x140kg, 2x120kg, 4x60kg). This is all done within 30minutes no worries including warm up and stretching after.

That's a good point.  I usually DL the same way I do my other lifting, and that's probably not my best choice.  I wasn't planning to deadlift both sessions, actually.  I've been trying to split my workouts into one DL/front squat/bench session, and one hip thrust/split squat/clean/OHP session.  If I run out of time, the last exercise gets dropped, because it's the one I care about least.  Maybe inefficient, but I'm trying to get a bigger range of strength so I can do all the things with my kids.  Swinging your baby like a kettlebell gets hard really fast :) 

Dead lift is 100% my FAVORITE lift, though, so that's why I'm focusing on it.  If I could only do one lift ever again, it would definitely be deadlift.

Yeah DL is my fave too :-) I usually warm up with KB swings (haven't tried a baby...hahahahahahha) and Turkish get ups then hit the deadlift. If I don't feel like doing anything else I already know I'm winning.
-speaking of which, I'm off to the gym soon. Thanks again to this thread for motivation!

[oneday]

I'm working on a January fitness goal on another thread, but will want something for Feb-Dec :)  I'll be back.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

You guys have some serious goals!

I want to lose 20kg or so over the next year, but that's more about eating than fitness. Gym based exercises don't work well for me, because I'm hyper mobile. I do need to walk a lot, I'm doing 6km or so a day but could double that. I also need to get back into yoga, which is the only thing I find helpful for strengthening that doesn't also massively increase my risk of dislocations. I had fun stand up paddle boarding a few years ago, so might make that a priority again also.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been tracking & working on my health & fitness for years, but over the last 2-3, something has stopped working along the way. I'm *ahem* older, and clearly my body doesn't process food in the same way. I want 2020 to be the year that i tweak & experiment with what I'm doing in order to see actual progress.

My goal is to lose 20 lbs (in 2020, feels right). I have a general sense of what's required to get there, but again on the tweaking. Here's what I'm thinking:

1) Smaller meals, calorie tracking. More focus on veggies. Reduction of carbs & alcohol.
2) Run more consistently
3) More strength training

I also want to focus on stress management & higher quality sleep. Both of which contribute to my fitness (enabling me to have the energy to work out, reducing temptation to snack, etc.)

I do really well when I'm in my normal routine, and it all falls apart when I travel for work, or go on vacation. Time to find solutions to both of those.

[Metalcat]

I've been tracking & working on my health & fitness for years, but over the last 2-3, something has stopped working along the way. I'm *ahem* older, and clearly my body doesn't process food in the same way. I want 2020 to be the year that i tweak & experiment with what I'm doing in order to see actual progress.

My goal is to lose 20 lbs (in 2020, feels right). I have a general sense of what's required to get there, but again on the tweaking. Here's what I'm thinking:

1) Smaller meals, calorie tracking. More focus on veggies. Reduction of carbs & alcohol.
2) Run more consistently
3) More strength training

I also want to focus on stress management & higher quality sleep. Both of which contribute to my fitness (enabling me to have the energy to work out, reducing temptation to snack, etc.)

I do really well when I'm in my normal routine, and it all falls apart when I travel for work, or go on vacation. Time to find solutions to both of those.

If you want to cut back on alcohol, consider joining us in the Give Up The Hooch thread. There are a TON of really great resources in that thread, especially if sleep and energy are an issue for you.

[brandon1827]

Body weight circuit today. Whence we did bear crawls, mountain climbers, and inchworms. So, like, 50% of the workout was about my shirt ridin’ up towards my ears, and my belly going commando.

Lol...I can totally relate to this!

I have to stop and do the ole tuck in the front of my shirt bit before I get going on those kinds of moves, lol

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been tracking & working on my health & fitness for years, but over the last 2-3, something has stopped working along the way. I'm *ahem* older, and clearly my body doesn't process food in the same way. I want 2020 to be the year that i tweak & experiment with what I'm doing in order to see actual progress.

My goal is to lose 20 lbs (in 2020, feels right). I have a general sense of what's required to get there, but again on the tweaking. Here's what I'm thinking:

1) Smaller meals, calorie tracking. More focus on veggies. Reduction of carbs & alcohol.
2) Run more consistently
3) More strength training

I also want to focus on stress management & higher quality sleep. Both of which contribute to my fitness (enabling me to have the energy to work out, reducing temptation to snack, etc.)

I do really well when I'm in my normal routine, and it all falls apart when I travel for work, or go on vacation. Time to find solutions to both of those.

If you want to cut back on alcohol, consider joining us in the Give Up The Hooch thread. There are a TON of really great resources in that thread, especially if sleep and energy are an issue for you.

Thanks, @Malkynn - that's a really interesting thread & seems like it could be a good fit

[mm1970]

Body weight circuit today. Whence we did bear crawls, mountain climbers, and inchworms. So, like, 50% of the workout was about my shirt ridin’ up towards my ears, and my belly going commando.

Ah ha ha, I can relate.

So much that I have about 4 shirts that are long enough that they won't ride up if I pull them down over my legging-covered butt enough that friction does its job.

I very carefully save them for certain workout days...

[mm1970]

I actually this year have no fitness goals, for the first time in awhile, aside from having fun.  I had a GREAT 2018, ended it with an injury.  I spent most of 2019 trying to get "BACK" to where I was.  Failed.  Gained 13 lbs.  Got injured 2x.  Was basically miserable because of my failure to run faster.

So...I am giving myself the permission to phone it in, half ass it, have FUN in 2020.

That means: no running goals, except to rediscover the JOY.
- If I'm out running, and I feel like walking, I walk!  Not: oh I have a side stitch, and should walk.  Or: oh, my achilles is bugging me, I should walk.  If I want to fucking walk, I will fucking walk.
- Races.  I have not registered for anything.  There are a few that I am interested in, that I may do for fun.  Like the Yosemite half.  Or this 10 mile trail run in May.  Or a 7 mile trail run in March.  The idea being, I want to have FUN and not worry about a finishing time.
- Far more shorter runs (3 miles) and fewer longer runs (5-9 miles)

I also spent quite a lot of time last year weight training.  I love it, but again, have a few niggling body issues that I have to be careful about.  It's okay.  I don't need to continuously increase the weight I am lifting.  It's not worth injury, dammit this should be fun!

I'm going to add back swimming, because I have been missing it.  And hiking.  The problem with me always training for something is that I never get to do fun stuff with the fam.  Saturday is always a long run, then I'm too damned tired to go off and do a hike with them.  (My kids complain about hiking anyway, but it's something that I love).

I wouldn't mind losing a few of those pounds I gained last year, but some are muscle, and I want to keep those.

[Fru-Gal]

I agree balance is critical. I found myself perpetually sore and achy, with bigger feet (!), when I did a half-marathon training summer 2019. My theory is I don't have the weight training going on that I used to to support that distance (also I was heavier). Going down to 10k and doing more speed training has been great! Feet shrank back, no soreness whatsoever, nagging knee stiffness gone!

It's all about listening to your body.

[Arbitrage]

Ok, the initial results are in and I have a baseline from which to hopefully improve.  Lost about 3-5% of my strength over the holidays due to poor eating and 'resting my nagging tennis elbow' (also known as laziness).  Didn't gain the weight I feared, but with the drop in muscle mass I'm sure I gained a bit of fat.

1. Bench press double my weight (or the equivalent with 5 reps)
BW: 158.5 lb
Bench: 235 lb x (8, 6)
1RM equivalent: 292 lb

2. 8 pull-ups with 100 lbs extra
7 reps x BW+90

3. Improve dead lift rep weight by at least 30 lbs.
325 x (4, 3)
I normally do 5 rep sets for the first full-weight set, but took it easy on myself as I could feel a potential tweak coming in my hamstring and was a bit worried about injury.

[Eucalyptus]

Ok, the initial results are in and I have a baseline from which to hopefully improve.  Lost about 3-5% of my strength over the holidays due to poor eating and 'resting my nagging tennis elbow' (also known as laziness).  Didn't gain the weight I feared, but with the drop in muscle mass I'm sure I gained a bit of fat.

1. Bench press double my weight (or the equivalent with 5 reps)
BW: 158.5 lb
Bench: 235 lb x (8, 6)
1RM equivalent: 292 lb

2. 8 pull-ups with 100 lbs extra
7 reps x BW+90

3. Improve dead lift rep weight by at least 30 lbs.
325 x (4, 3)
I normally do 5 rep sets for the first full-weight set, but took it easy on myself as I could feel a potential tweak coming in my hamstring and was a bit worried about injury.

Some serious strength there, good luck! :-)

[Metalcat]

Went to the gym yesterday, but there were 4 people there! There's NEVER anyone in my gym even though it's shared by 3 high rise buildings. Then I remembered that it's January, lol.

Did some elliptical since both the bike and the rower were occupied, and then had to wait while awkwardly watching middle aged men try to use free weights and machines whole clearly having absolutely no clue what they were doing.

My shoulder is a bit effed today because I pushed it just slightly too far with the weights. It's such a pain in the ass trying to find the perfect balance where I make gains but don't get hurt. It just feels impossible not to hurt myself at least a little if I push myself at all.

[Sailor Sam]

Interval jogging yesterday. The treadmill has an issue with static build up, and shocked the hell out of me. And people gathered in the hatch to make fun of me. Otherwise, it was fantastic.