thanks guys. i worked out tody (2-20-14) before work, and it was great. i did some in place jogging before starting to get a little cardio in. then i did some chest presses and pull downs with the home gym with 4 plates. i don't remember what the resistance for the pull downs is at that weight, but it felt too light. the chest press resistance with 4 plates is 117 pounds, which was a good challenge. after two sets of each exercise, i did a set of 130 punches on my punching bag (ow), with probably 4 sets of those total, and around 500-550 total punches thrown at the bag. my knuckles are feeling that, and are bruised and banged up, but it still feels good to have exercised again.

as far as mealplan advice, that would be great. what i've been doing lately is something along these lines, but not always the same.

Breakfast: 3 egg omlette (usually with some chicken or ham mixed in.), wheat toast, 8oz milk (1% fat)

Lunch: 2-3 Wraps (usually turkey or ham)

Snacks: Banana, Danon Light and Fit yogurt, Almonds, Protein shakes

Dinner: Salads (not as often as i'd like), Chicken and Hamburger Helper dishes, rice, vegetables

Sir William is right! your lower back and core is oftenly used as a stabilazer when doing tricep extension workout, that's why you feel something pain there. But there's a way to strengthen that back as well as the core. Strengthening your back and core is very important, It is very important to have a strong core and back when doing such standing workouts like tricep extension and deadlift! if you can make your back and core strong, and make your form correct all the time. You are not going to feel that PAIN again!

Here's some video link to make that back and core indestructible!

#HTH

Hey man! We have the same problem before!

Keep this in your mind :

Always think about why did you start to workout? Me? because I want to change myself.. I dont want to look like a whimp for the rest of my life.. I want to stay healthy all the time. I want to do something that I never did before! Life is a Journey! and Fitness is part of who am I now!.

As Scout Herman answer this Fill in the blank question.. he said " He workout because, he want to be the best version of himself inside and out " . It inspired me a lot... and I'm doing the same thing as he told me.

Never never satisfied to a single accomplishment!!! because we hold the power to our future! Our power could be LIMITLESS!!!

Welcome to the wolrd of PAIN

DON'T LET TOUGH TIME GET THE BEST OF YOU...... ALWALYS REMEMBER THAT BROTHA!! # HTH

Hey everybody. I've been gone a while, but will be back more now. I just wanted to post my leg workout from last night to get some feedback.

1) Leg Press- 3x10 @ 360lbs, 2x10 @ 410lbs

2) Calf Ext.- 3x10 @ 200lbs, 2x10 @ 300lbs

3) Leg Ext.- 3x10 @ 130lbs, 2x10 @ 150lbs

My quads are aching, and squatting down at work is not fun at the moment.

Figured I'd let everyone know that I joined a Planet Fitness "gym" about 2 months ago, so this is where my workouts are taking place now. Just finished an upper body workout. Here is how it went.

1) Arm Curl Machine- 1x30, 1x20, 1x10 @ 40lbs

2) Arm Ext. Machine- 1x30, 1x20, 1x10 @ 30lbs

3) Smith Machine Bench Press- 1x10 @ 105 lbs with bar, 2x6 @ 125lbs with bar (last rep was a failure)

4) Latbar Pulldowns- 3x10 @ 90lbs, 2x10 @ 105lbs

Also, I've started doing some Ab stuff after every workout. Here is a little of what I've done.

1) Abdominal Machine (with arms straight, don't know what it's called)- 2x50 @ 80lbs

2) Incline crunches with dumbbells- 3x15 @ 15lbs

3) Side crunches with dumbbells- 3x10 @ 20lbs

Hey man, looks like you've been progressing well!

Planet Fitness...I hear nothing but bad things about that place! haha. What do you think of it so far??

Jordan

Thanks Joe. I don't mind the place that much, but have only been going for about 2 months, so I may notice things I don't like in time. I wish I could try deadlifting up there, but I will have to wait until I can find a different gym for that. Something I am going to start soon is doing 30 minutes of cardio on my exercise bike daily. I plan on doing 15 minutes when I wake up, and then 15 minutes again when I get home from work or "gym". After last year's laziness I got up to 215 pounds again. A friend at work told me about an app called Lose-It!, and I've been using that to keep better track of what I eat. I've also cut way down on the vending machine at work, and only use it now for a pack of peanuts or something like that, as opposed to all the chips and snack cakes and stuff I was getting before.

I put my weight goal on the app as 175, and I'm down to 205 now. For lunch at work I've been taking turkey sandwiches, with fruit, usually watermelon, apples, or strawberries for a snack.

One thing I can say I don't like for sure about Planet Fitness, at least the location I go to, is the way one of the employees talked to me after a workout one day recently. As a little backstory, I had asked this guy for a little help with the Rear Delt machine, since I had never used it before. He showed me how it worked, and I went on my way. Jump a week or so forward, and I'm working upper body, and use the machine. I find a weight that I can do, and on my way out after the workout, I see the guy who had helped me. I tell him how I found a weight I can do, and his reply is something like this. "I'm not a personal trainer. I'm a cleaner, that's all I do is clean. I don't know why you're telling me this, and I'd appreciate it if you'd just let me alone. Enjoy your workout." What an A-hole. I have since stopped talking to this guy as much, and am having a better experience.

Just thought I'd give an update of tonight's workout. I hit legs tonight, doing leg press, calf ext., leg ext., and dumbbell squats. Here is how they went.

-Leg Press

3x10 @ 450 lbs

2x10 @ 500 lbs (Working set PR)

1x9 @ 550 lbs (tried for 10, but last rep failed)

-Calf Ext.

3x15 @ 350 lbs

2x15 @ 370 lbs

Leg Ext.

1x10 @ 130 lbs

2x10 @ 150 lbs

1x5 @ 170 lbs

Dumbbell Squats

2x10 with 45 lbs Dumbbells

awesome man! Are you doing barbell squats too?

I haven't been doing those, since the last time I did them, I had lower back pain the next day. That's why I started doing dumbbell squats instead. I just got back from another workout tonight. I met a guy up there last night, and he wanted to work chest with me, and help me out with some stuff. Here is what we did. I don't have my weight numbers unfortunately, since we worked kinda fast, and I didn't have time to write them down. I'll try to do that next time. Several exercises were on the Smith Machine, but Planet Fitness doesn't have actual barbells, so that has to do good enough.

- Bench Press

- Incline Bench Press

- Decline Bench Press

- Bent Over Barbell Rows

- Chest Press Machine (Cybex)

- Pulldown Machine (Cybex)

- HS Front Pulldown

- HS Pulldown

- Cable Rows

- Latbar Pulldowns

- Bench Dips

- Pushups

I am feeling the workout in my arms, and back, specifically right below my neck. I don't really feel much in my chest, a little, but nothing to complain about.

I am also noticing a slight dark spot on both hands where I was holding the bar during pressing. I wasn't gripping really hard, but am wondering if these could be bruises? The guy I worked with let me borrow a pair of lifting gloves, and I thought maybe I got something on my hands from them, but it didn't come off when I washed my hands.

No barbells...this is one of the reasons why I would never go to planet fitness, personally, though I know for some people it is the only gym in their area.

Anyway, about your 'bruises' - it's probably just come calluses. They pop up all over the place, it's a typical lifting thing :)

Jordan

Thanks for the info. I've noticed that the dark spots seem to have faded now, and I don't have any pain where they were.

Just got back from another workout. Here is what was done, in no particular order. Sets will be listed like this: 1) weight, 2) weight, 3) weight

Bench Press- 1) 1x10 @ 105lbs, 2) 1x10 @ 125lbs, 3) 1x10 @ 155lbs

Decline Bench- 1) 1x10 @ 105lbs, 2) 1x10 @ 125lbs, 3) 1x10 @ 155lbs

Bench Dips- 3x 12 (Holding for 10 secs on every 4th)

Cybex Pulldowns- 2x10 @ 130lbs, 1x10 @ 110lbs

Cybex Chest Press- 1x15 @ 40lbs, 1x12 @ 50lbs, 1x10 @ 70lbs

HS MTS Row- 3x10 @ 50lbs

Cable Row- 2x10 @ 90lbs, 1x10 @ 75lbs

Latbar Pulldowns- 3x10 @ 90lbs

You are well on your way to you goal man! Sounds like you have turned things around for the better!

As for the planet fitness guy...what a douchebag.

Had a question for you guys and gals. When I did leg day on Monday, and did squats, the guy I was working out with had me take a narrower stance, and keep my knees pointed forward. Now my left knee has been hurting all week long since, and I can only think it was from the squats, since we did nothing different than normal. The only thing that changed was my stance for the squats. I normally use about a shoulder width stance, and let my knees move out as I go down. Could changing my stance back to my normal one help ease the pain I'm feeling in my knee?

If your usual squatting technique doesn't cause pain, and you are still able to use full ROM, then you may as well stick with that.

When you had your knees narrower, did you still make sure to push them OUT and not IN??

Jordan