Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Sorry not to weigh in with any advice here, but wow dids. Amazing work so far. Was there one particular straw that made you just say no to dying early all of a sudden?

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Ed,

Not really. I mean, if you're familiar with my history, I was basically trying and failing to do this for a long time. I kept waiting for the switch to flip, and I'm not really sure why it finally did.

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Dids,

I'm a college athlete (soccer) but I too am for the first time undergoing a consistent workout routine that doesn't merely consist of constantly playing soccer, basketball, football, etc. with my friends.

I have been and will continue to be following along with you on your attempts to get in better shape. Good luck!

At any rate how I've found myself struggling with the same thing that you are in terms of free weights vs. machines.

In my experience starting with free weights at the beginning of your workout (after warm up of course) and then moving to machines is my favorite way to do it.

Just for examples sake, i might do a chest/tris/shoulders day:

Warmup
bench press
nosebreakers
shoulder press
butterfly with free weights
inclined bench

I feel when I do free weights after a good warmup I feel strong and get a great workout in. Also, I don't feel very much in danger of dropping the weight (like you did with squats and I've done before as well) or otherwise putting myself in a dangerous situation, since I'm fresh and feel good.

Then after that I might move to tricep extension machine, shoulder press machine, bench machine, and butterfly machine (again this isn't always my workout, just an example)

I feel like I get a great workout this way. After my muscles are already tired, I can work them as hard as I can without worrying about injury.

So you have to find what's best for you, but I like to work free weights when I'm fresh and then burn out on machines.

Just my .02 cents.

Good luck! (and love the forum btw)

Stak

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

All these machines are awful. Please stop using them. They're not going to make you strong and will end up getting you hurt.

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Colt,

You talking to me or Stak?

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
All these machines are awful. Please stop using them. They're not going to make you strong and will end up getting you hurt.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm curious about this too. I'm going to start a new thread on it...

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Per everybody's suggestions, I added squats (on a machine) and some step up stuff.

EFF YOU IF YOU SUGGESTED THAT 'CAUSE NOW I FEEL LIKE CRAP AND WON'T BE ABLE TO TALK TOMORROW.

aka thanks.

Made for a very good workout.

Although some combination of my undershirt and the squat machine left tiny cuts on my shoulders, that's weird and annoying.

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Per everybody's suggestions, I added squats (on a machine) and some step up stuff.

EFF YOU IF YOU SUGGESTED THAT 'CAUSE NOW I FEEL LIKE CRAP AND WON'T BE ABLE TO TALK TOMORROW.

aka thanks.

Made for a very good workout.

Although some combination of my undershirt and the squat machine left tiny cuts on my shoulders, that's weird and annoying.

[/ QUOTE ]
The knurling on the bar cut you? Was the bar moving around on your back?

Also, maybe next time try the barbell with very little weight?

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

UPDATE:

I'm at 250, which has been an initial goal for a very long time. In theory this means I can get a tattoo. However, since I just hit that this morning, I'm going to wait a bit to make sure that isn't just variance and water weight.

Wasn't the best two weeks in terms of how I ate. I wasn't horrible, but my nose wasn't to the grindstone like it should have been.

Given that every pound I lose could be worth about 25 bucks from the bisonbison thingy, and I've got about a month left, I'm going to be trying really hard to eat perfect and make sure I'm not slacking in terms of going to the gym.

As mentioned, I've added some lifts. Mostly squats (on a machine) and I just started with dips today. Both are painful, but I'm enjoying them.

And now, of course, pictures:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/4...e66328346c.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/227/4...5139ca1d55.jpg

A montage: The first is from over a year ago, the other 3 you've seen in this thread:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/4...28097e9554.jpg

Re: Official Dids Gym Thread
 

Dids: Kickass work man, keep it up. I gotta good feeling your going to be a great success story with the progress you've already made.

My older brother had a very simlar shape to you in the second picture in that group. Basically he was "average" in high school and gained a bunch of weight in college. He worked his ass off for about two years and is now skinnier than he was in high school and can run longer than I can.