re: ******OT Health & Fitness Thread******

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Bench press - 265 lbs
Squat - 345 lbs
Deadlift - 425 lbs

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I can bench 295 now but I'm literally scared to death of maxing out deadlifts again. Threw my back out one time and I've been doing smaller weights ever since. At one time, I was in the 1000 pound club though. I'm in more of a maintenance stage of my life anyway.

I'm headed back to the gym today after a week off because of another kidney stone. I hate when I get out of my routine it is always harder to get your mojo back after time off.

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And I'm with you on the maintenance stage. It was just easy to lift heavy and intensely over there because there was nothing else to do.

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I know what you mean. I was at Fob Lindsey in Kandahar, Afg. My work days were missions, eat, workout, sleep. Night missions, I did everything in reverse. And we only did roughly three missions a week on average so I had too much gym time.

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Even though I'm young (27), I'm at that stage, too. I don't work out for maxes, or to get big, or anything. I just enjoy working out and like keeping my body in the habit of doing so.

ETA: Plus, wins me points with my gym rat of a wife and gets me laid more

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Nice bro. I wish I was more in the maintenance stage. However, I grew up so unbelievably skinny, that I now have this crazy desire to get super swole, stupid I know, but it's something I'm striving for.


I know what you mean about the wife. Those who lift together, stay together.

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Nothing wrong with that! Everyone's gotta have a reason to go hard in the gym.

I've always had a burly build, so it'd be easier for me to bulk up if I wanted, but I just don't want to maintain it when I get there

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True that. I'm about 5'10 and I weighed in the 120's until i was about 22. Finally started lifting and slowly gained weight. I currently weight about 190. My plan is continuing bulking slowly until I reach 200, and then try to get super shredded down around 185. Easier said than done.

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It's true tho! She teaches zumba and boot camp-style classes in her spare time. Girl is a handful to keep up with, but keeps me in the gym instead of getting lazy

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Nice. My wife does Zumba and those Brazil butt lift videos. I was skeptical a first, but after seeing the results I'm a believer!

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I'm trying to shred not bulk up for my beach trip in a couple months but my main problem is nutrition. I love my cereals and breads too much I reckon. To substitute, I'm trying to burn an extra 300- 500 calories via either the elliptical or the stair climber five days a week. Is that a good plan or is that too much cardio? I want to maintain my muscle if I can.

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In my opinion, that is definitely too much steady state cardio. Have you ever tried HIIT( high intensity interval training)?? If not, I would definitely recommend that.

How many times are you lifting a week??

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I lift five times a week actually and it's been like that for a while now. I work out at 5 in the morning before I work so I need pre-workout. I'm afraid HIIT training is going to make my heart explode.

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Man, that is similar to what I do. I lift 5-6 times a week, and then do 2-3 HIIT sessions a week. I'm in way better shape than when I was doing multiple steady state cardio workouts a week. Start out slow, and do 30 seconds high, and 1-2 minutes low. Do it for just 15 minutes or so. Eventually build up to where you do a 1:1 ratio of high and low, and you can do 25-30 minutes of it. The fat will literally melt off(ok not really, but you get the picture)

Usually lift 5-6 times per week as well. Abs every day (there are tons of weeklong batteries of intense ab workouts on youtube. I have a set that I downloaded as an mp3).

20 minutes on the stationary bike at a pace a couple of notches below a sprint (and with the resistance never dipping below level 10). I usually bust out the first 10 minutes on level 13, drop down to level 10 for 6 minutes of simulated downhill sprinting, then raise the level by 1 for each of the last 4 minutes. Smokes me pretty good.

Then I go play basketball. Kind of a pet project of mine the past few years to get better playing while I'm tired and after I've lifted. Keeps my cardio up and forces me to have good form on my shots even though my arms feel like jelly

If I feel like mixing it up, I'll do a HIIT or Pi-Yo class with wifey. She never lets me slack off, which I hate in the moment, but love in the end.