Keeping in shape as an Engineer

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Husky?

I believe the word is "thicc" in the parlance of our times. I don't actually know.

 

[goodal]

I too packed on about 25 lbs once I started this desk job 19 years ago.  Once I got out of school, I was able to start working out again and have stuck with it for the last 13 years or so.  Pretty much 3 ~1 hr workouts a week plus a basketball night and a night of competitive table tennis.  I have had a decent home gym during all this time and only use free weights or body weight.  Of course, there are times that I don't get all of that in, but as a rule I'm "working my muscles", as my boys say, 3 afternoons a week.  I have never been able to workout in the mornings.  I really like working out, but getting through the first warm up set is the toughest.  Once I'm past that, I'm good for an hour.  If your going to get fit/lose weight/get cut you are going to have to A) find something you like doing and B) stick with a routine NO MATTER WHAT.  No excuses.  No procrastinating.  Get out there and do something.  Otherwise, your just wasting your time and money on fancy equipment/clothes hangers or DVDs.   I too have found that if i have something to aim for I will workout harder.  I started doing Spartan races a few years ago.  There's only one per year within a distance that doesn't require over night stay but I'll train for 6 months or so toward getting ready for it.  Did the mid-distance Beast this year.  It was a killer.  Calves completely cramped up at mile 7 and I still finished in top 40%.  

 

[csb]

I too packed on about 25 lbs once I started this desk job 19 years ago.  Once I got out of school, I was able to start working out again and have stuck with it for the last 13 years or so.  Pretty much 3 ~1 hr workouts a week plus a basketball night and a night of competitive table tennis.  I have had a decent home gym during all this time and only use free weights or body weight.  Of course, there are times that I don't get all of that in, but as a rule I'm "working my muscles", as my boys say, 3 afternoons a week.  I have never been able to workout in the mornings.  I really like working out, but getting through the first warm up set is the toughest.  Once I'm past that, I'm good for an hour.  If your going to get fit/lose weight/get cut you are going to have to A) find something you like doing and B) stick with a routine NO MATTER WHAT.  No excuses.  No procrastinating.  Get out there and do something.  Otherwise, your just wasting your time and money on fancy equipment/clothes hangers or DVDs.   I too have found that if i have something to aim for I will workout harder.  I started doing Spartan races a few years ago.  There's only one per year within a distance that doesn't require over night stay but I'll train for 6 months or so toward getting ready for it.  Did the mid-distance Beast this year.  It was a killer.  Calves completely cramped up at mile 7 and I still finished in top 40%.  

I have to decide on registering for a Spartan by December 1 for next August. Is the Sprint pretty manageable? 

 

[Supe]

You casually stroll up Snow King, you'll be fine.

 

[JayKay PE]

If your going to get fit/lose weight/get cut you are going to have to A) find something you like doing and B) stick with a routine NO MATTER WHAT.  No excuses.  No procrastinating.  Get out there and do something. 

Sticking with the routine = the hardest thing for me.  One of my knees is a little wonky all of a sudden and I know I need to rest, but I also know if I stop working out for too long that I won't get back into it.  I usually try to take off a couple days to rest when it gets really bad, but icing has been helping it when I get home.  My most recent 'routine'/schedule is to try and go x3 during a work week and once on the weekend with only a day rest in-between (if I need to rest, or if I have other errands to run).  Usually this means a M/W/F schedule with Saturday, but each time I think I've got a schedule down all of a sudden something happens and I can't go for a couple days.  Def going to try and get better about this! 

I'm actually 'logging' my gym time on my google calendar and my gym itself has bag sensors that record your 'workout' (i.e., how many punches you threw and the intensity).  I like it because it gives me personal goals I can aim towards and lets me see if my 'score' is going up.  My Saturday class is at a different gym (straight kickboxing vs. boxing), so I get to work on form and mainly core work.

I think my workout pants are getting looser?  Which is a pain since they kinda slide around when I'm doing jumping jacks/jump rope.  I mean, they also might be getting stretched out.  Which is more concerning.

 

[akwooly]

I have to decide on registering for a Spartan by December 1 for next August. Is the Sprint pretty manageable? 

EB spartan team!

 

[Road Guy]

That one in Vegas (Late March) looks fun.

So now I am intrigued - I watched a video of all the obstacles - really the rope climb and the multi rig thing (with all the rings) look to be the worst of the obstacles?

There site has too many pop up ads but is the just that if you can’t do an obstacle you do 30 burpees?

 

[csb]

That one in Vegas (Late March) looks fun.

So now I am intrigued - I watched a video of all the obstacles - really the rope climb and the multi rig thing (with all the rings) look to be the worst of the obstacles?

There site has too many pop up ads but is the just that if you can’t do an obstacle you do 30 burpees?

Correct. 30 burpees and you move on. 19 burpees and you can move on, but you take a time penalty for the other burpees you didn't do. 

And a lady at my gym told me the trick the rope climb is to bring some rubber gardening gloves in a fanny pack. Slap them on for the rope climb and then slide down after you hit the top. 

 

[Road Guy]

30 bur pees is nothing really. 

People wont like to hear this but this spartan race looks like the race built for crossfit types that also like to run..

I still  need to work on some arm strength, but our gym owner said its 50% learning the leg hold technique with the rope and 50% arm strength, but again its just something we dont do enough off to "master" -  I normally do rope pulls (where you lay on the ground and pull my fat ass up to a standing position and they do hurt the F out of my hands, some gloves would be good)

Ive done a mile run with a 40 # sandbag before (but that wasn't part of a 10K) that was "the" workout. lol

But now I am intrigued as hell, this one in Larkspur may be sweet!

 

[csb]

30 bur pees is nothing really. 

People wont like to here this but this spartan race looks like the race built for crossfit types that also like to run..

I still  need to work on some arm strength, but our gym owner said its 50% learning the leg hold technique with the rope and 50% arm strength, but again its just something we dont do enough off to "master" -  I normally do rope pulls (where you lay on the ground and pull my fat ass up to a standing position and they do hurt the F out of my hands, some gloves would be good)

Ive done a mile run with a 40 # sandbag before (but that wasn't part of a 10K) that was "the" workout. lol

But now I am intrigued as hell, this one in Larkspur may be sweet!

I was supposed to do a Warrior Dash, but they went out of business, so SPartan gave us free entries to next year. That's the one I'm signing up for. 

 

[Road Guy]

gotcha!

It sounds fun, but I really want to do the Leadville marathon, looking at weather outlook for this winter, its not going to be easy getting time for long runs    Not sure if this would be a good training for the leadville marathon or too much to throw in?

 

[goodal]

I'm not a runner by any means.  In fact, I hate running, but even I finish pretty high in my class.  Running is just putting one foot in front of the other.  So as long as you can still stand you can do that part.  Several of the obstacles require upper body strength that is hard to fake if it ain't there.  The rope climb is not one of them.  Just use your feet and you'll be up in 5 seconds.  The hard stuff is the monkey bar obstacles that are sometimes wet, all have large diameter bars that are hard to hang on to and are sometimes at the end of the race when youre shot.  The only time I have ever had my arms completely fail was on a monkey bar obstacle at the end of the race.  Im probably going to do a Tough Mudder next year in Nashville, just because they arent timed and my 15 year old wants to go with me.  I'm pretty sure he couldn't do the Spartan.  Hes not built like an Olympian yet.

 

[Road Guy]

Are there knots in the rope or are you using the "S technique" with the legs?  - Its just something I don't have an easy way to practice.

Those long looking monkey bars "things" with the rings looked the hardest to me - i was watching some videos last night - may be easier just to do the burpees.. The higher wall climb looked tough as well.

 

[leggo PE]

And a lady at my gym told me the trick the rope climb is to bring some rubber gardening gloves in a fanny pack. Slap them on for the rope climb and then slide down after you hit the top. 

That's assuming you get to the top!

I got my Spartan Trifecta back in 2014, and only made it to the top of the rope one of the three times. Granted, I didn't have rubber gardening gloves, but it's hard regardless enough physically (I had and still have no training with rope climbing) and then when the rope and you, and everything else is muddy and wet, it makes it even harder.

 

[leggo PE]

I'm not a runner by any means.  In fact, I hate running, but even I finish pretty high in my class.  Running is just putting one foot in front of the other.  So as long as you can still stand you can do that part.  Several of the obstacles require upper body strength that is hard to fake if it ain't there.  The rope climb is not one of them.  Just use your feet and you'll be up in 5 seconds.  The hard stuff is the monkey bar obstacles that are sometimes wet, all have large diameter bars that are hard to hang on to and are sometimes at the end of the race when youre shot.  The only time I have ever had my arms completely fail was on a monkey bar obstacle at the end of the race.  Im probably going to do a Tough Mudder next year in Nashville, just because they arent timed and my 15 year old wants to go with me.  I'm pretty sure he couldn't do the Spartan.  Hes not built like an Olympian yet.

Wait a second, when I did the rope climb, it was always over a pool of muddy water.... So maybe this isn't the same everywhere, but I wouldn't count at all on being dry when doing it. See my comment above.

Also, I agree, Spartan races are best for CrossFitters who like to run. But you can do it without liking to run... It's just going to take you a lot longer, especially if you're doing one of the longer races (Beast or Super). The sprint is significantly shorter, but I thought it was challenging because all of the obstacles are so close together. When you do one of the longer ones, they're more spread apart.

Lastly, I recommend not doing the ones on ski mountains... Unless you like carrying heavy things, trudging up ski slopes... It'll certainly make you appreciate ski lifts, that's for sure!

 

[ChebyshevII PE PMP]

I’ll tell ya the most beneficial thing I ever did was buy an incline/decline bench and a weight set with two adjustable dumbbells. It basically allows you to do every workout for every body part and since it’s at your house, you guilt yourself to do it regardless of the time. 

Thanks for this advice. I actually broke down today and did just this. Hoping it helps me.

 

[chart94 PE]

Thanks for this advice. I actually broke down today and did just this. Hoping it helps me.

Let me know how it goes! If you need any workout ideas DM me! I scoured the internet for a bit lol and it is time consuming

 

[sisoj]

Thank you for the replies guys!

 

[chart94 PE]

Tore my pec a few weeks ago...this is making things very difficult in a month like december where i swear i have a party every weekend..

 

[csb]

Tips won't be as good with only one? 

:dance: