40% * (8 tapas (2 battered and fried fish, 6 healthy* vegetarian), 1 bottle of white.)

Not at all bad and better than my last tapas. Calves are really tight so I'm going to stretch 'em and try to get something pulse raising in tomorrow. Climbed 193 steps today, had to stop twice though.

Days without crisps: thirty eight.

More random stuff.

- Third buckle of belt successfully threaded on Monday, muscle power necessary. Fourth buckle by next Monday tricky.

- Calves very very tight for a few days now. Recurring issue. Purchased a foam roller.

- Purchased a skipping rope, always good for some HIIT. IIRC my previous peak was ~100 jumps in a row (before tiring) ... will take a while to get back to 100, and then I'll smash it.

I personally don't find that a foam roller works well for the calves. A tennis ball, or preferably something harder like a lacrosse ball, can dig better into the calves imo.

I have one of these but I like to mix it up:

Got my planks up to 3 * 55 seconds. Surprised and happy with my progress. Should have a solid base fitness level by the end of July, will crank things up in August. Good eating today, might hit some tennis balls tomorrow.

Tennis

I just played tennis for the first time in 2 years.

Tennis is my favourite sport. I enjoy basketball, but I suck at it. I enjoy football and am a good goalie, but I prefer playing outfield which I suck at (if I get in genuinely good shape I might be decent). There's little I'd rather do on a summer day than play tennis. I'm OK, better than most who play at the local park but anyone 'good' would smoke me.

In 2013 I decided to work on my pusillanimous serve. My ground strokes will never be amazing, but since the serve is the same thing every time, if I kept working on it I could make it a weapon. So I watched videos, changed my technique and went to the court to serve. The improvement was dramatic.

I went from serving like this



to serving like this



I'm confident, based on the Wimbledon speed readings, that I was occasionally breaking 100mph. My plan was to add wrinkles to my serve in 2014 (jump to hit the ball, get a slice/top spin second serve) & it would be very difficult for a casual player to break my serve.

Shortly thereafter, I herniated my disc. Was this due to my new serve technique? My surgeon didn't rule it out, but said once recovered I could try it again. I'm nervous. I don't want to herniate that thing again.

I'll never be great at tennis, but I could be good. To do this I need to get in shape. Running down every ball is huge. Not losing technique to due fatigue is huge. My backhand is decent when I'm in position, otherwise it's awful. Getting in shape will help me get in position. Playing tennis next year, below 80kg, to a decent standard, averaging 95mph first serve, that would be fantastic. And it is doable.

Today I hit balls and played a little doubles. Played badly, but better than expected. Worked hard enough to get out of breath, but not sweaty. Want to play singles against someone who's good, a multishot rally where every stroke is hit clean is tremendously satisfying. I'm not in shape to sustain such play (if I'm currently good enough to hit multiple clean strokes in a row), but in a couple of months I might be. And next year I sure as hell will.

Guys, I need some advice.

I have no interest in joining a gym during the summer. The weather is too nice to lift weights. I want to do circuit training in the park. Recommend me some exercises. Thus far I have: Jump rope; planks; perfect pushups; resistance band curls; resistance band lateral raises. I want to add more variety, especially if it will add more muscle groups. Stuff like jumping jack, side planks, sit ups.

Save any 'bro you really need to lift'. Maybe it would be 'better', but I have no interest in doing it. I'd rather not force myself to do exercise. And I'll have plenty of time to lift over the winter.

dips if you can find somewhere to do them, and pullups. These may be difficult for the portly gentleman but they are definitely good exercise. I am not an expert at body weight stuff but maybe there is something to do to work up to them. I have a pullup bar between the stairs and my computer, I have a rule that when I walk by (max 1x/day) I have to do as many pullups as I can, which usually means I do a set every day.

Dips are a great idea thanks. If I can find some railings I'll mix some in. Won't be able to do pullups until December. Knees were creaking yesterday and today, I'm sure I'll be fine in two days but I'm worried about 20 years time. Skipping, excess walking, running, jumping jacks, tennis etc. probably best avoided. But I'll play tennis anyway.

dips are great. look into doing something like grease the groove to increase strength

you could also consider inverted rows in place of pullups and tricep dips using any kind of bench

If you've had problems with a herniated disc, wouldn't now be a good time to start strengthening your core? There are plenty of good beginner exercises and none of them are sit-ups or 60s planks (you're unlikely to be able to hold them in proper form for that long). I'd check out Sensei's log.

ye don't see the point in 60 second planks.

would do proper core workout(as mentioned look inside sen log), pull-up/push-up superset a/o dropset for upper, and some stuff for legs (bulgarian split squat is great for example)

I'll definitely look in to those core workouts but what is so bad about planks? As for technique I think I'm doing it right but I might film and upload it.

Back surgery was last February, the next few months were rough, but I haven't had issues with it for a few months now. My core was actually pretty strong when I herniated it (I was ~100 KG, played my first ever 5 set tennis match and was strong throughout and was squatting ~105KG * 5, well below parallel), my (excellent) surgeon said it was probably just one of those things, no specific reason (although he did mention my age!), but losing weight, strengthening my core, stretching properly will all help. If I start playing tennis again and herniate it I'll accept it's possibly my new service motion and go back to my 70 mph moon balls after a long period of crying.

Planks aren't bad, it's just a very common beginner's mistake to hold them for too long and form becomes sloppy. RKC planks are popular in this forum, that is 10s maximum contraction planks.

Planks
Side-planks
Curl-ups
Bird dogs
Dead bugs

Are all good exercises to start out with. With proper form they both hit your core hard and are easy on your back. But yeah, you'll find a lot of exercises in Sensei's log.

17 weeks to go

Weight = 119.1 KG (morning post pee).

Happy with this especially since I was 120.5 Wednesday morning.

All I have to do is lose 1.4 KG a week for 17 more weeks and I'll weigh 95.3KG for the wedding. EASY.

Friend is in town for a month, couple of points

i) It sucks that he'll see me heavier than he ever has. Yes, there's *way* more important reasons to lose weight but this is what goes through the mind of a fat person.

ii) It's good that I'm 15 lbs heavier than when he last saw me, as opposed to 30 lbs at the beginning of June.

iii) By the time he leaves I should be within a few lbs of my 'previous' weight. That's a good incentive.

In two months I won't be self conscious about meeting a friend I haven't seen in a while (unless that time frame is 'since 2004'). That will be awesome.

BTW, this 700lb to 300lb story is well worth reading.

Walked to the tennis court (over a mile each way), hit a few balls, pretty badly ... my serve is absolutely awful ... oh to get in the rhythm of 2013. My body is pretty beat up, especially my knees. Too much walking, too much time in the sun (I do wear sun cream). Unless I make a miraculous overnight recovery I'll take tomorrow real easy, no walking, lots of foam rolling. And more importantly, make sure not to overexercise in the future.

Diet was OK today, couple of salmons fillets I butchered, a large courgette (cooked in a little goose fat), brown rice (cooked with no fat). Also a banana. Breakfast was 250 kcal of venison burgers (highly recommended). I think I 'fried' two eggs (in no oil) too but that might have been yesterday. Not sure why I bought the food scales & didn't weigh the salmon/courgette/rice, would be good to know how many kcal it had.

I really really really want a beer but not today. Bought one of these badboys



haven't had one in about ten years ... makes me emotional. Why did I buy it? Because I wanted to. I'll probably eat it in the next week (not eating it immediately after egressing the shop is already a huge huge improvement).

Just checked the weather forecast and the next three days consist of lots of rain, I'm probably going to take things easy but I'll definitely try out some of your circuit recommendations and might get some stair training in.

Days without crisps: forty two.

120.9 this morning. Hmm.

You got fatter just looking at that walnut whip.


Those are only 170 cals. So you take a walnut and add a bunch of chocolate, fat and sugar?

Approved. Yes. Have a few a week if you want.

loco please stop posting in this thread thank you.

Geez I am going to run out of threads to post in. Fine.

But on a serious note yeah get the Venuto book, Cruzn should get it too.

That walnut whip does look delicious by the way. And the calories are decent. Have a few a week.

Lololol

loco plz post in my thread

Feeling sick today. Had some goat's milk with cereal a couple of days ago figuring it might not set off my lactose intolerance. Not sure why I thought that, but I was wrong. I should just steer clear of dairy for the rest of my life (goat's cheese seems OK). Aged cheeses are apparently OK. Same for blue cheese. Kind of annoying since pizza is damn tasty but I'm not a huge dairy eater anyway. Hopefully I pick up later today and can get some exercise in ... it's been a while and I'm in the mood to crush.

They make over the counter stuff to deal with lactose intolerance, you just take it at the same time as you eat your dairy.

https://www.lactaid.com/products/fas...%7c74665933582

I think I tried that before and I didn't work but I'll give it another shot at a time when I'm ready to risk feeling like **** for a couple of days Thanks!!