What's Your Motivation?

Training Over 35 Lifter
1

Ok, what do you guys use for motivation?

I’m 38, Married, with five children. This provides me with great motivation to go to work, and provide financially for my family.

I’m 6’5" and weigh in at 300lbs. I’m over weight but not fat. This is coming from those around me, because I think I’m fat and have said so many times, but have been told I do not look like I weigh 300. More like 270/280.

Anyway, I’m trying to lift and get in the Cardio I need each week and I usually make it till about midweek before I just can’t get out of bed. I get up at 0400 and usually get to bed after a full day around 2200.

Here is the question, what can get me through the week? I have tried all the Ripped Fuel, etc stuff and they give me chest pain and High Blood Pressure. Is there anything out there that will work, but not have the negative side affects?

2

We’ll need to take a look at your program. Sounds like it’s beating you up.

3

Agreed.

4

Obviously no chemical can substitute for a healthy lifestyle, but I swear by HOT-ROX.

I’m 6’2" and weigh about 275, up from 245, which was down from well over 300. All fat. I lurk here for information about TRT/HRT. I hate exercise in every form I have tried. I try to force myself, but I don’t often succeed.

I was diagnosed with depression, which manifested in severe fatigue. HOT-ROX changed my life. I set my alarm for an hour before I want to get up. When the alarm goes off I take one capsule and go back to sleep. An hour later the stimulant wakes me up. If it weren’t for the chemical I would sleep all day.

Six hours a night would not be enough for me. Take the advice of the guys around here. A lot of them really know their stuff. Healthy exercise is way better than chemical addiction, but if you want to play with drugs…

If you haven’t tried HOT-ROX, give them a shot. They sure work for me. I only take one a day, suggested dose is up to four a day. One is plenty for me.

Good luck,

Dan

5

Well…I too have to get juiced up on caffiene as I head into the gym. But what gets me up every morning to get my training in is, it’s the one thing I do for myself, and I try not to let anything get in the way of what I do for me. Seeing the state of health and fitness of the average person is also very motivating to me. I’m 47, and I’m often told I look like I’m in my late 30s. That works pretty well too.:wink:

BTW, BigD, I went to highschool in Chicago in the 70s. Walter Payton was THE MAN. I like the avatar!

6

You’re a big fella and if you’re just getting into lifting and cardio, I can’t see any reason why you’d punish yourself with a maximum of 6 hours sleep.

Mate, that’s crazy. Get some decent sleep - 8 hours at least. And if your excuse is that you work too much - you’re in the wrong job…

6 hours of sleep, lifting, cardio, working and a big fella - and you wonder why your running out of petrol!

7

I agree Duke, looks like allot of work with little recovery.

For Supps I use Animal Pak and Biotest protein and Surge. I lift better when I am working toward a goal. Like a PL meet, Football, or a bench meet. The more I read and inner act with this forum the more pumped up I get. Also you just need get to where it is second nature.

8

Thanks for the info. Here is a sample of my routine. I use a deck of cards.

K=25, Q=20, J=15, 10, 9, 8…

I do Push ups, Curls, Wrist Curls (Super Set)

Squats, Pull Ups (Super Set)

V Ups, combined with the Wheel, V ups for the higher reps and the wheel for the lower reps (under ten), with lat pull downs (Super Set)

Tables, Shrugs (Super Set)

I usually finish about half the deck each morning, combined with this I do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio.

I am in Law Enforcement and understand the need to be physically fit and active. I am an Investigator, so this takes a significant amount of my time. I also try to spend quality time with my family, which is why I get up so early, so it frees up the time in the evening for family activities.

Right now I take B-12, Vit C, Fish Oil, and Flax Seed Oil, Creatine, my Blood Pressure Meds, and Tramadol for pain (When Needed)

Ok, Now you guys know more about me than most of my friends.

I really appreciate the info so far. Thanks!

9

Ill jump on the “get some more sleep” bandwagon.

Try to structure your meals to maximize the energy they can give you when you need it.

Lastly, make sure you are including recovery time in your workout routine, remember, thats when you grow. Otherwise you are minimizing your progress.

10

Do you work on weekends? Could you schedule 2 tough workouts on Sat and Sun then try to do some assistance workouts during the week? Like squat, deads on Sat and chest, back on Sun. Then a couple times during the week some lighter work-stiff deads, military press, push ups etc.

11

[quote]Bigd1970 wrote:
Thanks for the info. Here is a sample of my routine. I use a deck of cards.

K=25, Q=20, J=15, 10, 9, 8…

[/quote]

Could you explain this in detail? I don’t get it.

Do the numbers on each card represent reps for each exercise? What happens if you shuffle the deck?

I’m obviously confused.

12

Recovery and planning are key.

You may want some visual cues too. Tape up a motto next to the bed or something in the bathroom mirror to remind yourself that what you are doing is a good thing.

I have a quote I read every morning my brother sent me and another I found that if I am ever not feeling it I read. If I hang on my ass after that then I know I need some extra zzzzz’s.

Let us know how you do.

13

Not much to go into detail about, Yes, the numbers represent the reps. It is pretty simple, I do shuffle the deck, then just pick whatever card is on top and that is how many reps of each exercise.

My wife helps me with meals. She usually prepares the evening meal, which is mostly vegetables and a card deck sized amount of meat, usually chicken or lean beef.

For lunch I usually eat Turkey or Ham sandwich or a Tuna and Vege Salad. I usually have two snacks a day with some type of fruit and nuts.

For Breakfast I usually have Oatmeal, nuts, fruit.

I usually drink 2-3 Quarts of Water a day.

I do cheat and stop by Dairy Queen, once or twice a week.

14

[quote]Bigd1970 wrote:
Thanks for the info. Here is a sample of my routine. I use a deck of cards.

K=25, Q=20, J=15, 10, 9, 8…

I do Push ups, Curls, Wrist Curls (Super Set)

Squats, Pull Ups (Super Set)

V Ups, combined with the Wheel, V ups for the higher reps and the wheel for the lower reps (under ten), with lat pull downs (Super Set)

Tables, Shrugs (Super Set)

I usually finish about half the deck each morning, combined with this I do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio.

I am in Law Enforcement and understand the need to be physically fit and active. I am an Investigator, so this takes a significant amount of my time. I also try to spend quality time with my family, which is why I get up so early, so it frees up the time in the evening for family activities.

Right now I take B-12, Vit C, Fish Oil, and Flax Seed Oil, Creatine, my Blood Pressure Meds, and Tramadol for pain (When Needed)

Ok, Now you guys know more about me than most of my friends.

I really appreciate the info so far. Thanks![/quote]

The higher the amount of stress your job provides the more you need to scale back workouts to something that supports rather than drains you. The human nervous system can’t differentiate between good and bad stress in it’s reactions. It just lumps it all into the STRESS bucket and reacts to it all in the same manner. So if the stress accumulation is too high, the CNS tries to shut you down, hence feeling ‘unmotivated.’

I’d set some lower values on the king, queen and jack when determining reps. And if you’re doing 25 of anything you’re already doing cardio so I’m not sure you need 30-40 minutes of it on top of the other stuff.

In fact - If I had your job I’d be doing 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps of Squats or deadlifts, pullups and overhead presses maybe 3 times a week and leave it at that. You weigh 300 lbs, so pullups are going to be a lot more work than for average-sized people. Short, sweet, hits everything, can be adjusted for stress level by adding or removing sets/reps per set. Do abs and cardio on ‘off’ days. But that’s me. You’d know what works best for you.

You might try to get zinc and magnesium into the supplements list.

15

[quote]skidmark wrote:

I’d set some lower values on the king, queen and jack when determining reps.
[/quote]

I say get rid of the cards altogether and stick with 3 sets of 5 reps. Make 'em heavy and make 'em count. Build up to 5 x 5, then change up your workout. Stick with lifting heavy for now, build up the volume when you’re feeling better.

Oh, yeah, and do what skidmark sez. Keep the cardio for non-lifting days.

16

Finally getting around to welcoming you. Everytime I see a question like your’s in your OP I try to come up with an answer and can’t. Don’t know what motivates me. I just love lifting heavy stuff and throwing things around.

Anyway, my sleep sucks too but it doesn’t seem to affect me that much. I don’t have 5 kids to contend with, though. Coffee is my friend. First time I ever heard of the card deck thing. Agree with Yo Mamma who agrees with skid. So welcome to the club.

17

Thanks for the info. I will go with the 3X5 method and see what happens, working my way up to 5X5.

Zinc and Magnesium added to the Sup schedule.

Will report back with the results.

18

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
skidmark wrote:

I’d set some lower values on the king, queen and jack when determining reps.

I say get rid of the cards altogether and stick with 3 sets of 5 reps. Make 'em heavy and make 'em count. Build up to 5 x 5, then change up your workout. Stick with lifting heavy for now, build up the volume when you’re feeling better.

Oh, yeah, and do what skidmark sez. Keep the cardio for non-lifting days.
[/quote]

Listen to this very wise woman…

19

[quote]Colin Wilson wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:

Oh, yeah, and do what skidmark sez. Keep the cardio for non-lifting days.

Listen to this very wise woman…

[/quote]

Educated at the School of Hard Knocks.

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My motivation? This guy. I know he is out there…waiting.