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Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

@Sharxfan, I agree with Berto, the scale doesn’t tell the whole story. 5 years ago I weighed just over 185 pounds. I got back to lifting weights and running, then a year ago traded running for cycling. Guess what I weigh now…185 pounds. I know I’m in way better shape than I was. My cardio is good, my strength is high and I can see a difference because I know I’ve put in some hard work and have benefited from it.
 
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Glad I do not have that phobia. :laughing

I eat the food in 15 minutes or less so that plus a 5 min drive is the exposure.
 
Holeshot said:
IMO, body changing composition is the thing to look for. That's the easiest reward/ insta gratification...and that keeps motivation high. This is why I recommend regular pictures so the look-back shows a meaningful progression. It's weird what our brains will concoct in how we compare to last year, leading us to believe we were better back then...then the pic surfaces and we realize we duped ourselves. We're the best, now. We're individual in how we make our gains based on how our bodies react to our specific environment based on genetic differences and goals. I wouldn't worry too much about the weight thing if you're happy with your body developing/ goals met. I use the scale, but really just to confirm what I'm seeing and a metric for stability. The loss of poundage is weird, but maybe it's dehydration (likely my issue) and lack of eating needed nourishment. I don't have a large appetite, so that's the fight I lose from time to time.

Food for thought: I fixed much of the motivation/ post workout "did I work hard enough" last night by doing one simple thing: I shifted from a "get 3 X 12" done to a 2-4 second concentric followed by a 4-6 second eccentric movement. It was awesome...that simple thing inspired a new way to feel the weight and blood. It also turned out to be easier to move heavier weight and had no effect on my HR (which I try to run decently high). I didn't worry about rep count....I went until I wasn't able to get 80% or so movement on the concentric part. Some reps were 18, others were 6. Depended on the weight I grabbed. I also 2X'd a 30% (or so) drop set. That brought out all the blood...I like reading your workouts FWIW. It's nice to see others doing similar work and having struggles too...especially given I think we're close in age. Keep at it. Your commitment I admire.

I don't have any data links to reference...but I'm sure you'll know what parts to take and what parts to leave in my post.



Love when we find stuff in common J-man.
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Thanks @Holeshot. My wife gets on me to take measurements to track progress also I should listen to her she's a smart woman. But is just hard I know I am doing great work but wish the scale showed it. I could lose 40 lbs and be fine but it never shows. I may go back to a protein based diet 6 small meals every 2 hours I lost a ton of weight doing that but was also 12 years younger. Need to get that ball rolling to be in shape in 5 months.

You know one of the guys I see at the gym regularly hit me up the other day talking about Eric Berg and I was like uh huh don't do the facebook medicine thing but hearing all of you talking about it I will probably check him out. I also like Athlean-X on YouTube he has some good stuff.
 
Honestly Sharx, you're doing it for yourself and your wife. Her compliments and stares are where it's at, really. Girls may not be as overt as guys are with the compliments, but it doesn't mean they don't notice nor that they don't like the changes they see...and they do love guys who work at being fit and are dedicated. I've never seen a pic of you, but I get the idea you're built solid...and that's not a bad thing at all. There are those of us who are jealous of the ease at which muscle goes on the solid guys, but we can't change our genetics. The second I take a few day break or stop eating enough, I lose size/ mass. No fun...We've both have something the other guy wants...so, we'll just live with who we are and try to reform it to what we want (more importantly; what our girls want) and be happy...

Dr. Berg and Jeff are the men. Those guys have great content, IMO. The fasting stuff is the real deal, FWIW.
 
@stangmx13, did a 27 mile loop up in Truckee with my buddy today. I dropped tire pressure to 24f/25r and holy cow did that make a big difference in comfort. I don’t recall having anything strike my rims so I could probably go a smidge lower but I think I’ll ride at this pressure for a while. Thank you.

Here’s the loop we did.
IMG_3596.png
 
Also I got attacked by a grouse. He was sitting on the edge of the road and when I went by it ran after me and began pecking at my foot. Little shit chased me for 30-40 yards. When we got to the top of the climb there were other cyclists talking about being attacked by a grouse. It was hilarious.
 
I am shocked a midget turkey-ish bird would chase a cyclists for so long. That’s so funny!

My YT algorithm knows I’ll watch stretching and posture related vids. It recommended this one which ended up being such a funny production.


The vid gives 4 tests for hamstring issues that cause the feeling of tightness and inflexibility. I failed like 2 1/2 of them. I tried the weakness test the evening after a hard ride and my hamstring instantly cramped. I then did some hamstring curls on a machine at the gym and the muscle felt like cramping to whole time. Welp, I def need to work on that.

Aside from that, my coach has been kicking my butt.

Mon - Lift RPE5
Tues - Off
Wed - 2x20min SweetSpot
Thurs - Lift RPE5 + 2hr30min Endurance
Fri - Yoga
Sat - 2hr Endurance + 2x4x 1m/3m OverUnders
Sun - 3h15min Endurance

Thurs was my first double day in a long time. It fried my nervous system and I was not recovered for Saturday. The legs were a little sore still, but they just wouldn’t respond. I hate that feeling of the nervous system not working. Like, you ask your muscles to do something and they just don’t respond. Bleh.

Here’s what those OverUnders looked like. Target power for the Over was 340w and I was a little short.

IMG_6211.jpeg


But I do get to do it all over again this next week. The coach removed the riding on Thurs and extended the OverUnders to 2x5x. Maybe it’ll go better this time.
 
So after a week at not being able to gym due to SUV in the shop I was finally able to get back to it last night.

So following my notes I upped weight on about 3/4 of the exercises. Bench I had already upped weight and was almost able to do 3 sets of 12. Everything else fell about 3 sets of 10 before failure but that falls within the optimal 9-12 reps but I strive to hit 3 sets of 12 before I up the weight again so figure 1 or 2 weeks before I up it again. I overdid the curl weight on accident and did 2 sets of 100 and 1 of 90 which was supposed to be 90 but misread the weight stack and figured it out late after I noodled my arms. also threw in some forearm exercises and they are barking at me today along with everything else. feels good to be back in the gym but tonight is lower body so um yeah squats. :laughing
 
Anyone please call someone for me. I think I am having a psychotic break. I am starting to like leg day at the gym. I need help......

Maybe its because I am putting more weight on each session which makes it feel like I am making progress weekly whereas with upper I petty much know where I was at so the weights don't go up as fast. Last night was good. upped most every exercise about 10lbs at the end of the set it was hard walking up the stairs to do core exercises. even worse was walking through the store to get groceries but I perservered and made it home in one piece. Had a rough night sleeping woke up quite a few times I am guessing as I was having a hard time getting comfortable but that's the price I pay for progress I guess.
 
Sharxfan said:
Anyone please call someone for me. I think I am having a psychotic break. I am starting to like leg day at the gym. I need help......
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That is a good sign!!

I like both upper and lower. Going to the Gym has become really important to an otherwise very boring existence!

Lower is specific to my rehab so more important in ways.

Legs on Saturday and Monday both went well. A solid bike ride each time and strength is improving but flexibility is hard to judge. I keep trying. I talked to a trainer and may use him in a while as I get more "healed". Specific to flexibility and core strength.

Really thinking to maximize it I will need to go to the gym twice on leg days. I suppose I could take the time to 2.25 hours and get both in. :dunno

I have been peeking at a Zumba class... I know I am getting closer and there are a couple dudes in the class that used to come to my class. Not a fan of the fancy smancy dance moves but I can live with them. I know the coordination aspects of the class would be good for me.

Upper body continues to improve and I am trying to get the shoulder to have a bit better range of motion. It has improved for sure, but it also brings the term "no pain no gain" to my reality. Overhead lat pulls are evil, but I have noted that the crunchy arthritis shit is starting to submit to the work.

The MRI place got their Open MRI fixed so headed there today to see if I can deal and get a better low down on the shoulder.
I really would like to try shockwave for it as well. That is an out of pocket expense and the Mrs values money more than my health so a battle to be fought there.
 
My coach has manipulated me into feeling that mental boost of weekly gains for lifting. He has me start light. I get my 5-10lbs increase weekly and my soreness is never debilitating and often infrequent. He has tricked me into enjoying lifting.

"No Pain No Gain" is such a nuanced topic. I dislike it when it's used a default statement for lifting or working out, because it's really not true for many cases. And it seems to be used to justify pain and even injury that people shouldn't experience. IMO, a healthy active person can make tons of gains without appreciable pain. But I suspect that someone overcoming injury, frozen joints, or maybe a sedentary lifestyle may need to experience pain. Easy example is that PTs actually hurt you sometimes. Ya, much nuance.
 
It really depends on the type of pain I think. I have pain almost every day after gym days but its more of a low level pain that says hey dude you did some gnarly work last night and now we are getting payback by making it painful repairing all the micro tear damage you did to your muscles so take that asshole. It never rises to the level of oh fuck I seriously hurt something unless I do something stupid which I have trying to minimize for some time now so it happens way less often. As I sit and type this my legs are in pain but its the pain of knowing I did some stuff that stressed them out and now they are building back better and stronger.

I had ACL surgery on my right knee many many many moons ago. As i stopped working out I tended to baby that knee for fear that i would mess it up again. it got so bad I couldn't do certain things without it hurting but since i have started leg days again the pain/weakness has started to go away so I know the small pains are helping me get rid of the bigger ones. I can actually lift myself with my right leg now with no issue which is huge for me. Shoulders still suck but that's a different issue that will never go away. rotator cuff surgery on left arm and a couple of dislocations on the right but not bad enough to tear anything. so I suck it up because a lot of movement on the shoulders cause me some pain but the gain is worth it.

Sorry for another long rambling post which I am not sure has a point in it anywhere.
 
I suspect that no one or very few people actually need to cause soreness to make noticeable gains. Perhaps every person has their certain amount of workout that will cause gains with zero soreness. Maybe for a hypothetical person, they get 80% of their max gains for the day with zero soreness. Double the work gets them to 90% gains and some soreness. And triple the work gets them 95% gains with tons of soreness. (Fitness & gains tends to be exponential so this might make sense) Who knows what the ideal work is for that person, maybe it's somewhere between zero and some soreness. It probably highly depends on how often they want to workout.
 
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