Fitness motivation and goals!

What is your fitness motivation and goals this new year? I just started a new fitness program by Wes Watson called Watsonfit. The goals i have are to get ripped, put some muscle on my frame and become financially fit. Motivation is for solid mindset, to be accountable for my nutrition, financial postion, and for my wife to look at me and say daaammnn.

 

I'm looking to lose about 40# (already lost 20#), and put a bit more muscle on my frame. Doing a cross between HIIT/circuit training and 5x5 StrongLifts right now and it's working pretty well.

 

Nice Matt, congrats on the 20 lost keep it up. At the moment Wes has me on a push/abs, pull, leg/abs schedule. Tracking macros on myfitnesspal. And the coaching app he has is awesome, great for motivation and finding answers.

 

I need to get in shape to work turnaround in March. So far I'm off to a bad start this year, though.

 

If your looking for some motivation I suggest watching the newest Wes Watson video on YouTube. Its not all about fitness its mind body soul. He gives you the hookup for sure gives you the hard truth!

 

Need to eat better and portion control.

I have a good work out routine but bad about eating healthy. Years ago (20's) I ran so much I could eat anything and I ate a lot (average about 800 miles a year + a few hundred a year walking the dog) Stayed steady at 175lbs, 6ft tall with an amazing conditioning and good build. 1hr morning workout weights, 2 hour afternoon workout 40/ 45mins was cardio ~ 6 mile run then weights, and 1 hour dog walking in a single day. I know now that's probably too much, my body can't handle that now and I don't want to give up that much time of the day. Now I do 1hr weights in the morning, walk the dog(s) then run in afternoon.

Since I got divorced (2016) I've put on 30 lbs. I got lazy and dating didn't help. 35 now and the added weight kills my running ability (speed and distance) so hoping to shed that weight to get close to where I was.

Also getting remarried in April so been going strong so far.

 

Hellyeah, thats good to hear you know what the problems are. Your lacking in the nutrition part alot of ppl are. Which is why i got myfitnesspal app and track everything i eat to get a sense of just where im at. Now after the 1st week in this program im solid on what i can get away with and not. You wont believe how much less food you eat and feel great for not over indulging feeling like why did i eat soooo much haha

 

Also congrats on the marriage!

 

Thank buddy

The second one's a keeper! and she's a great cook for meal prepping healthy meals! And I'm great at doing all the dishes

 

Ive lost 60+ lbs and gained muscle the last year and a half or so. Biggest thing for me that made a difference was moving the focus away from just weight training and walking to working more on core and flexibility. Still do some weights, but much more focus on stretching, yoga, core work, bodyweight exercises like squats, pushups. So a more holistic approach vs trying to look like a muscleman.

 

Thats awesome 60+ weight loss is beast man! I'm glad your widening your variety of workouts. I definitely need to start doing more of the stretching and yoga. Been working exercises into the routine to help my posture and alleviate some pain the shoulders and back. It has been so helpful. You get so stiff from just lifting weights.

 

Love this thread so I'll jump in too. I've been toggling between HIIT and strict weigh lifting in the garage using the Starting Strength app. It's effective, but gets boring and I find it's hard to stay motivated doing it alone. So I end up going to some HIIT classes at the local gym where I can show up, they tell me what to do, and I bust my ass for 30-45 minutes. It's a lot more cardio, but whatever it makes me feel good, so who cares even though I'd like to build more muscle. I turned 39 this year and I'm noticing I'm a lot more injury prone lately. My wrists seem to get injured/painful easily for example. So I guess my goal this year is to work out more consistently and stay off the injured list so I can keep going!

 

I feel ya on that one. I'm 45, and while I can easily do all the stuff I used to do, I've learned that stretching, cooldown, and adequate hydration is absolutely critical to continued wellbeing and lack of injury.

I'm one of those lucky guys who has wide shoulders and such naturally; so all I really need to do is lose weight, then continue to do HIIT/weight lifting to build up a bit of muscle and work on what I got.

 

Damn straight dudes! I agree with the warmup stretch/cooldown. As far as hydration I've been using the Liquid IV packs from costco. Just pop one in a 32oz h20 eveytime i workout. It feels great and make it easier to get more water down the gullet.

 

Yeah those hydration powders are great, that's another thing I could take more.

 

Ha I'm the opposite, I was always the skinny kid so it can be hard to put on muscle. But when I do it shows immediately since I don't have any weight to lose.

I DEFINTELY need to be better about warm up, stretching and cool down. I just want to get in there and get it done, but apparently hose days are over lol.

Another thing I do is take fish oil and collagen peptides everyday. It seems to help with aches and soreness but I have to stay consistent with it.

 

after not renewing at the gym decided to buy myself a bench and some weights to get back on the horse for the new year. spent time making decisions on equipment that will work best in the limited space i have available and quickly learned that in 2022 backorder is the biggest obstacle. i guess the resolution starts in spring now lol

 

check out gyms getting rid of equip as well as FB marketplace and craigslist. unless it has moving parts or electronics, not much equip goes bad. resistance bands can go a good way too in terms of workouts. but buying used dumbells/plates/bars used usually isn't an issue.

 

Yoga was the biggest game changer for me. There is truth in the saying- there is strength in flexibility. I had no idea my body was super tight, inflexible, weak overall even if I could handle some manly weights.

Add some Yoga, start small, do 10 min a day. check out yoga by adriene on youtube. Doesn't hurt at all that she is beautiful to look at too.

 

in terms of motivation....accountability seems to be the biggest factor. weekly check-ins with friends. and the friends that aren't afraid to call you out!

 

No offense at all, that just made me laugh

 

Heh, this was one of the smartest decisions I made; prior to February 2020, I already owned one of those wall-mounted squat racks, weights/bars, and dumbbells. Wife thought I was kind of silly for buying stuff.....UNTIL March 2020 and on rolled around. LOL

 

marketplace has been the center of my searching and you're right, it is definitely available. the only issue is space, i live in a small condo and want weights that will give me 20lb-70lb. lots of adjustable dumbbells but i'm picky and most of them are gigantic even at the smallest weight. the ones i'm hoping to get are perfect but unavailable atm.

 

My brother was making his own trail mix with healthy high fat stuff in it but, yeah, it's hard to gain weight in a healthy manner.

 

100%. i bet it the feeling wasn't much different than being early in on buying apple stock in the late 70's. unexpectedly hitting gold! i'm totally jealous haha.

 

The other thing that's helped me immensely are my chiro and my massage therapist.

I know I know, let's get all the jokes out, hardee har har. LOL Seriously though....I was seriously messed up about 10 years ago, until I went to see a massage therapist recommended to me. None of those cutesy Swedish massage with changing and incense in the background. It's more like this:

Me: *screams*
Lady: Oh good, I found the spot! *applies more pressure*

If you have had ANY surgeries, I highly recommend not just a therapist who does deep tissue massage, but one that does that Chinese cupping stuff. I thought I had frozen shoulder - UNTIL a cupping session. Literally changed my life, not even kidding.

 

My motivation was the fact that I was about to have a stroke because of my blood pressure. Only found out because I had a hernia and my Workmen’s Comp. doctor would not do the surgery until I got that under control. Started out around May of last year. Since then, I’m on BP medicine ( beta blocker) and the plan is to get off of it. I’m 6‘1“ and was 270 pounds. And I tend to carry it in my chest and midsection. Before I had the hernia surgery all I could do was walk because you know, umbilical hernia LOL.
Hurt like a mother too! I was able to get my blood pressure down, I had the surgery and started hitting the gym around July. i’m down to 228 pounds. I’d like to get in the 200 to 210 pound range. The first 30 pounds came off pretty easy, I still like to eat but I have been gaining quite a bit of muscle. I do cardio Monday through Friday most weeks and hit the weights 3 to 4 days a week. I try to do more reps than heavy weight and on my cardio days that I don’t lift, I do ab exercises.

My motivation is to not die and maybe look good doing it LOL I’ll be 43 next month.

 

Used to play college football, and did some bodybuilding (20 years ago) and my body is wrecked . I've started a little bit more powerlifting/funtional stuff, like weighted farmers carries, I just got a 250 pound tire that I'm gonna start flipping and pulling. I really wish I could do more squats, but I've had back injections (2 sets in the past 4 months) and I just can't do it. I'm gonna try to lose about 20 (and hopefully more). I've got a trip planned to go to Montana in July and I am so uncomfortable in airplane seats. I'm trying to get down so it's tolerable. On a side note, if yall like the functional powerlifting stuff, check out Tom Haviland on instagram. Guy is a strength freak

 

My story is similar to @Taco-Spike so no need to repeat all of it. Started packing on the pounds around 31 just before the first kid arrived and this past year has been riddled with health problems. If multiple surgeries at 35 when you have two little ones at home isn’t enough to get you into a healthy state; nothing will. Kinda took my health for granted and it came back to bite me. Just had bloodwork done this week and it’s still outta whack. Might be a make-it or break-it year for me this year. Time to get movin’

 

Beer and burgers?