Fiddleman

Lisa - thank you for your kind words.

I hear you. Unassisted pull ups are hard. However, it will be so rewarding when you do the first one. And then 5, 10, 15 and so on. It is still my weakest body weight exercise, but practice makes perfect. When I was working on this myself, I found that ring pull-ups helps build the upper body strength. Handstand or military pushups will help also. There is a book on Amazon that caught my eye called "50 pull-ups in 7 weeks" this might be like c25k program where it is progressive, one day at a time. I am going to keep practicing this right along side you until I no longer call the pull-up my weakest exercise

Gee Laura, thanks. It is a good thing I can take snipes from you. watch out now.

I know exactly what you mean! Any flight messes up regularity in a big way. Must be the combination of sitting in a plane for many hours and breathing in cabin air ( probably dehydrating in some way). Need a cure for that one!

Everyone has such wonderful goals. Thanks for sharing!

Perhaps vomiting is too strong of a word. It is more like sliming. Eating too fast causes sliming repeatedly until you learn to eat slower or less. Eating something before your sleeve is ready may cause vomiting. Vomiting occurred 2-3 times for me (retraction from above with the clarification made in this post). Sliming occurred for me all the time because I primarily eat dense protein and eat too fast. I do not like sliming in public (even in front of family) so excuse myself to the bathroom if it occurs. It was very common for me to slime up until month 6. Now I only do it on occasion. I threw up from trying to eat beef before month 5. It became ok after that to eat beef, especially after month 6.

My opinion is that it is safe to start at 6 weeks. You might be able to start before that, but why risk injuring yourself? Also I think it is best to wait until your weight is at a place where you will not put undo stress on any part of the legs, ankle or feet. The magic number for me seems to be about 240, but you might be able to go heavier. The important thing is to pay close attention to what your body is communicating. It is not worth injuring yourself with running if the time is too early. Instead do something lower impact like walking, swimming or elliptical. It took me 5 months to get to 240 which is 120 below my starting weight. Today I am 175 and am at 12.5 months post op.

It is the small miracles that bring happiness.

Yup, do make sure you eat and drink as much as possible before a cross fit workout to prepare for the intensity and push. I learned early on that drinking while doing an intense crossfit, like 100 burpees with a series of heavy weight standard bar exercises) is a recipe for throwing up all the Water and more from my trainer. I asked for a drink and she said not a good idea. So, I do not drink usually once the WOD and skill sections of a crossfit session are underway. I try and consume as many good carbs (within reason, say, 6 energy squares between morning and 4 pm cross fit) and water up to an hour before cross fit. Also during this time I will have my normal meals every 2-3 hours. It is important to max out the amount of energy and water that is available to your muscles. trust me, they will need it. both creatine and bcaa drinks will really optimize availability of water and energy to muscles. I will usually be taking the amino acid drink about 15 minutes before and a pre workout drink about 5-10 minutes before. I try and time the pre workout drink so it peaks after my warmup, right around start of skill / WOD, but this is a hard thing to time accurately and it depends on how your body is currently reacting to the pre workout drinks. I usually take a few gulps of water after warmup, but before WOD/skill. I usually hit the BCAA immediate when done with WOD/skill and drink as I am driving home. 10 minutes after that I will have an AMRAP bar (300 calories) to strt replenishing the glycogen stores. 30 minutes later I will drink a 400 calorie Protein shake (2 scoops synth 6) and then have dinner (lean protein and veggies) about 2 hours after that (sometimes 1 hour after). Before bed I will have a casein shake to keep the burn going all night. Like I said in other posts, I am eating and eating all the time small meals throughout the day from wake to bed to hit around 2000 calories and I am still leaning out (or rather, cutting). In last 9 weeks, I have dropped from 192 to 175 and still have a good athletic build. Just not huge. I like the way Crossfit is shaping up my body composition. And the best part about crossfit is every single WOD is unique. In the last 6 months I have only repeated 1 WOD from one month to the next month because we were measuring for progress. Otherwise, it is always exiting and new to see what my trainer throws at me. Cheers!

You know, one of the benefits of fast processing stomachs is a BM within 5-10 minutes of each meal. At least it happens that way for me. I feel like food flies through really quickly.

Swizzley- great update! Thanks for sharing. We are almost to the end, only a few more weeks. This will be where we will see the most gains. If people liked this challenge ( I certainly did), we can do another challenge, focusing on a new set of personal goals.

As expressed above in my last post, I have cut out cardio since march 2013 and focus exclusively on weight training spread across adv body weight exercises at home and workouts at Crossfit with my trainer. However, I was feeling like a second workout yesterday afternoon so ran a 25 min 5k and then smashed through a few sets of bench presses. To my surprise, my weight dropped 4 lbs last night to 175 lb. I am a little concerned because I hope this cardio did not munch my muscle growth. i do not think my body went catabolic because i drank a lot of bcaa throughout the day, including before and after the run. Furthermore, i do not want to drop much more weight or i will be underweight. According to my scale, body fat % is still the same. I want to keep my weight around 175-180 until it increases to 185-190 as I bulk out more ( yet, still remain cut). If I can successfully get in 1 5k run a week without sacrificing muscle gain, I think I will add it to my weekly fitness plan. I also like doing a 2nd strength training workout on M,W,F with my adjustable dumbbells ( body weight strength training in the mornings). I like doing some lighter weight deadlifts, sumo squats and bench presses using the adjustable dumbbells at home on MFW in the afternoon to complement the body weight exercises i do in the morning and the the heavy lifts I do at cross fit on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Here is what the new fitness plan would look like: M : am - body weight training, pm - 5 k run (about 25 min) T : am - core training, pm - cross fit W : am - body weight training, pm - adj dumbbell training Th : am - core training, pm - crossfit F : am - body weight training, pm - adj dumbbell training S : rest,maybe some hike or jog. Su : hot yoga (90 min) Does anyone have any suggestions about adding a run on Monday and 2nd workouts on Wednesday and Friday? the workouts are different enough i think it will not lead to over training. I get to eat an extra meal (recovery shake) after 2 nd workout which I think will make my metabolism super happy.

I agree the worst part is eating one too many bites and sliming, throwing up from a chewable vitamin (Bariatric advantage) or throwing up because your GI tract is not ready for a certain food like beef. That being said, getting sleeved is the best thing that has happened for both my physical and mental health. I have not been more happy and at peace with life. Good luck!

Hi - You make a good point about injury. I guess I was fortunate to avoid injury when trying to improve running times. Back when i first started running at post op 5 months (end of November 2012), I sort of fell into running and loved it. I followed chi method of running fairly closely because it made so much sense to me. I have posted a lot on this method and am happy to repost some information if anyone is interested. It is designed to prevent injury while still running with faster performance. It requires a runner to be acutely aware of rhythm, breathing, posture, stride, landing gracefully in middle of foot, completely relaxing and a few other things. Running is actually a meditative exercise with way less perceived effort when using this method. BTB and I had fun preaching all things good when using this method. A few others decided to tr it, but I do not know how many use it today as have not read any posts about it recently. If I recall correctly, my first 5 k time was 28 minutes and the best time I got was 18 minutes with a lot of daily practice over a couple months. First 10 k ended up being about 70 minutes with best time at 38 minutes ( prime of my running training) after a couple more months. Since march or so, I have reduced my running to about 1 mile daily for warmup before working out with strength training. I try and run 5k every couple weeks at a moderate pace of 28 minutes, but no more than that or faster than that in order to maximize preservation of hard earned muscle from strength training. My body actually likes to hold onto a certain degree of fat when i was running too much before march 2013 (became a skinny fat person). As for the Galloway method, BTB uses this. I never tried it, but it sounds promising in order to finish raises with still energy remaining in the tank. I encourage the use of Galloway and Chi methods as techniques to help run with more pleasure and minimal injury. Good luck in preparing for the marathon OP. Running is a pleasure if you can avoid injury. Again, consider both Chi and Galloway methods. 220 is a good weight to start running at (I started at 225), but running at a heavier weight might lead to injury. May not be true for everyone, but it was true for me when I tried running at 250. Hopefully, the real marathoners will chime in with some good advice: PdxMan, mass index to name a couple.

You might consider the following plan ( no flames please if someone disagrees; this is just a suggestion): 1. Complete c25k and run a full 5 k ( do not worry about pace, but do run the whole time). 2. Target a 35 min 5k 3. Target a 30 min 5k 4. Target a 25 min 5k, repeat until a 25 min 5k is no challenge 5. Run 2-3 5k races with good pace of 25-30 min time 5. Complete a 10k training program. There are a few free online resources. 6. Target a 70 min 10k 7. Target a 60 min 10k 8. Target a 55 min 10k 9. Run 1-2 10 k races and try to get 60-70 min 10k time. 10. Start increasing to 8 miles 11. Increase to 10 miles-12 miles over a couple months. This is as far as I have gone with running, so you might reach out to anyone on the long distance running thread for more steps. Here is what I might do: 12. Complete a 1/2 program 13. Train 1/2 miles for approx 3 months working on better times 14 race 1/2 marathon 15. Find a marathon plan and complete it 16. Work on improving performance of 18-26 mile runs (you do not need to constantly be running 26 miles in your marathon training). 17. Practice a dry run of the marathon a month before race. 18 continue to work on endurance and stamina 19. Take some rest 20. Race day You want to work in some down times in this plan in order to not get injured and not burn out. Always warmup and stretch before a run. Cool down, roll out and stretch muscles after the run. Eat carbs before running to fuel your legs and Protein afterwards to recover. Since you have a lot of training to get through, you will want to be eating the best you can, as often as you can and drink a lot of Water. You will be not only burning mad calories with this much running, but also will lose muscle with all this running. I have not figured out how to run this amount and preserve muscle so no longer do this level of running. Just wanted to warn you on that. Good luck in your long term planning. It may be aggressive to run a marathon in december 2014, but you will find a way if you set your mind to it. Hope this helps from a fellow VST runner.

I have the same goals as big country - to bulk up without gaining body fat weight. It is hard work to gain muscle mostly because we cannot eat the quantity of a normal guy who is bulking up to gain muscle (3000-5000 calories), in order to fully optimize the ass-busting workouts. I have been simultaneously cutting fat from 192 to 178 and gaining lean muscle back to 180 in the last 6 weeks to become more athletic. Weight has normalized around 180 in last 2 weeks ( my original goal), but think i really need to weight 185-190 when muscle gain has peaked. Yes, we could drink gainers all day (each protein shake is about 600 - 800 calories and can be bought at health stores), but those would more than likely turn into stored fat rather than lean muscle ( my hypothesis) because we process food differently in our entire gi tract. It is a constant learning experience of trial an error to see what works as a VSG post op. big country is doing incredible at this daunting task (major kudos!). Slowly but surely I think we are figuring it out.

It gets to be part of the lexicon when you discuss it all the time. creatine and BCAA are essentially protein synthesis supplements that help prevent the muscles from entering a catabolic state; rather, they keep muscles operating in an anabolic state. Creatine helps draw water into the muscle during repair. BCAAs are super efficient at racing towards the muscle to help with energy and repair. It is really important to optimize the results after hard work during your workouts.

That is super to hear Nicole. I know you can do it. Showing up is sometimes 80% of the difficulty in a workout. Stay consistent! That is where you will really see gains. I am cheering for you.

Howdy folks. We are into the 9th week of the 12 week transformation challenge. This is the last phase, the home stretch, the final push until the end of the challenge. We all made some fitness, lifestyle and professional goals at the beginning of the challenge. How is everyone doing? I hope there are still some participating in the challenge with me. If so, please report how things are going. This week marks the first day of advanced body weight exercises for me. I have made it through beginner and intermediate body weight exercises over the last 6 weeks with success. Don't worry, the advanced program is still tiring for me, but I made it through. Today it consisted of 8 sets of 2 minute sprints of star jumpers, 1/2 dive bombers, v-ups and hip raisers. Really, it wasn't impossible, but certainly got both cardio and strength taxed. Wednesday will be ladders and Friday will be the last unique workout in the 12 week program. I will repeat these 3 workouts for 2 more weeks and then, viola, I graduate. time well spent. I have learned enough body weight exercises from cross fit and at home body weight programs ( including books) to put together any future program, depending on desired goals. Lifting my body is no issue and I have developed a strong core. Here is my current weekly program (daily times include warmup, stretch, workout, skill training and cool down, actual WOD is about 30 min) M: adv timed body weight exercises ( morning-1 hour) T: 20 min core (morning), cross fit (afternoon-1 hour) W: adv ladder body work out (morning-1 hour) Thur: 20 min core (morning), cross fit (afternoon-1 hour) F: adv circuit body weight (morning-1 hour) Sat: cross fit warm up, planks, push-ups, situps, pull-ups, etc. (morning-20 min) - no workout, might go for a run, hike or walk Sun: hot yoga (afternoon-90 min) So what kind of quantitative changes have occurred over the last 9 weeks of me? Plenty! Run: 7:30 min mile (average 8:30 min mile)>5:30 min mile (average at 7:30 min mile) Bench: 125->225 lb Squat: 75lb->200 lb Dead lift: 125 lb-> 300 lb Burpees: 10-> 100 ( much easier now) Push-ups: banded 10->unassisted weighted 50 (30 lb) - I practice push-ups every single day, multiple times a day. Pull-ups: banded->15->unassisted 15 (most proud) Planks: 1 min->4 min Jumping: 2.5 feet-> 4.5 feet ( shocking even to me) I still look forward to learning rope climb and gymnastic rings in cross fit. Maybe in a couple months. Age: 37 Weight: 190->177 (as I " get bigger", I see my weight increasing again towards 190. However, my body loves to center at 180) Height: 5'11" ( may actually be an inch higher because my back has really straightened out. Will have to validate this hypothesis soon) Bf %: 19->12/13 % (places me at the upper range of athlete according to Wikipedia) Waist: 34 inch->31/32 inch Calves: 21->15 inches Chest: 45 inches (did not measure before - push-up variations are the exercise to make a big chest and upper back) Biceps: 12 inches ( did not measure before - need to work on these muscles) Neck: 15 inches Food: as Paleo/organic as possible, but do eat process chicken this and chicken that. Protein shakes. Green leafy veggies where possible, but also broccoli, snap peas, seaweed salad. Casein shake every night at bed (mmmm, chocolate). Eat 6-7x a day of 200-400 calories (no hunger). Supplementation: Vitamins: optimen (2x daily), omega-3 gold (2x a day), calcium chews, b12, vitamin d Green drink every other morning Pre workout drink BCAA mornings, drink before, during, after WOD and bed time Synth 6 recover shake. Creatine monohydrate ( before and after workout) Creatine 189 (hydrochloride) in morning Does anyone have feedback on these metrics? Where can I improve? My arms and shoulders are probably weakest point in body, but have definitely improved. Challenge me! Most of my short term goals established at the beginning of the challenge are coming to fruition. I have set some new long term goals yesterday in another thread, most notable is to compete in regional Crossfit games, learn parkour, mma and finally consider American ninja audition in 5 years also. I think it can be done with the right discipline and training. This program has helped both with physical and mental strength.

Hot yoga is a great exercise for improving mental clarity, elongating muscles, improving (dare I say, perfecting) balance and toning muscle. Notice I did not include calorie burning or weight loss into the list. I had the original perception that doing yoga poses at 105 degrees with increased humidity burns a mad amount of calories (600 or so). Heart rate is soaring, sweat is dripping off skin, yet all the research I have done online indicates that it is only water weight that is being lost. Furthermore, the claim is that sitting in a hot room with sweat pouring off you in buckets does not increase the internal temperature of your body. I found these statements a little hard to believe. Question: does hot yoga help you burn a mad amount of calories over 90 minutes or not? Question: is losing 3-6 pounds of water doing hot yoga harmful to us as VSG post ops (considering at least 6 months after surgery)? I also found that muscle definition decreases quite a bit the day after hot yoga. Intuition says this is just water being drawn out of the muscles. I want to continue to do 1 day of hot yoga on one of my rest days (sat, sun) for the benefits of toning, improved flexibility, balance and mobility ( not doing it to lose weight). My balance is actually fairly subpar at this point in time as demonstrated while holding one legged poses. Lots to work on there. Question: is hot yoga contraindicated to the muscle building process that occurs on rest days? Question: if the above question is answered with yes, does performing hot yoga actually result in loss of muscle growth or lean muscle progress? Thanks for considering my questions. I do want the non weight loss benefits of hot yoga described above, but clearly do not want to niter free with strength building and muscle definition. Thoughts?