Can anyone recommend a good app for tracking weightlifting workouts?
For years I used GymRat, which was simple, but had a robust library of exercises, lifts and machines. It let me set up different routines and did a great job of tracking history so I could come back to a machine or lift without having to go through the guesswork of where I should start after a layoff (due to injury - all too frequent, or summers outdoors, not frequent enough). GymRat also easily tracked supersets, letting me alternate back and forth between lifts for 3 sets of each.
As with all good things, GymRat did not last. A free program, it did not upgrade with the major upgrade in the android OS a few years ago, and would not transfer to my new phone.
It is not critical to have, I can a good weight fairly quickly, but I miss the convenience. More, I miss having the metric to compete against. I find I increase weight more when I have the history to evaluate when setting weights.
Check out Strong. It's what I use.
I downloaded it recently. Hadn't wanted to commit the time to getting started and setting up a few workouts only to find a better app. I feel rather fickle just typing that. I guess that's what happens when you lose a long-term relationship and then suffer through a couple of rebound apps ...
I'll weigh in.
41 y.o., 6'2", 180 lbs
I workout at a Crossfit gym for an hour/day, 5 days/week Monday-Friday and take a long run of 6-8 miles on alternate Sundays.
My bodyfat is around 7-8%, I squat 285, deadlift 355, bench 225. Abs and muscletone (which I care about) still look good. My Murph (saw this mentioned upthread) time is 41:22.
I follow an IF (intermittent fasting protocol) where I employ an eight hour feeding window, typically from 1:30 PM (after my noon workout) until 9:30 PM. I eat pretty much paleo, but usually have one "fun/bad/cheat" meal on the weekends. If I drink, it's probably two beers or two glasses of wine, but in the eight hour feeding window.
Anyway, I continue to be happy with my results. Please check out HIIT training, IF, and Paleo dieting. I think they are all worthwhile fitness/diet modalities.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Mehdi's 5 x 5 training are great resources, if you don't care for HIIT training. But please take care of yourselves, folks. You only have one body for life!
I take one or two rest days a week, and I always seem to have my biggest weight losses after a day off. Not sure if it because I have revved up the metabolism through the prior days, exercise, or if it is the body burning calories to recover, or if it is something else. Probably an issue of water release somehow. But it is a pretty consistent result.
This thread is making me feel lazy.
You're all so gosh darned FITNESS WORTHY!!!
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
Big day for me today.
This afternoon was one of those days when the gym was a struggle...didn't totally feel like going, wasn't fully motivated or "into it," felt a little out of sorts through most of my workout. But I still powered through 40 minutes of weights and then 2.5 miles on the treadmill.
It felt like an accomplishment just to get through my exercise this afternoon, and then when I got home, I got an awesome reward for perseverance...I stepped on the scale, and for the first time in quite a while (like, several years), the first digit in my weight is a 1!!! I'm feeling super great about that.
Keep it up, everyone!
The days where I'm for the workout, go hard on my cardio, knock out my sets, etc., those days are not the days I think make the real difference. Days like the one you had today, the one where you don't want to be there but you put in the work anyway, those are the days that I've always felt make the real difference. Great job getting done today.
With my daughter starting High School soccer this week, my schedule is about to change and I'm going to have to stop working out in the mornings before I work. I'm going to have to either work out at home at night or during lunch at the gym at work. I don't like giving up my lunch hour, so it might be time for another round of Insanity.
I just experienced this phenomenon. I exercised Tuesday afternoon, then cheated with a few drinks for my MIL’s birthday followed by a meetup with an out-of-town friend (though I did discipline myself with pasta and red sauce instead of lobster ravioli), then had a rest day yesterday. Come home from the gym today and I’ve lost another pound and a half. I mean, I’ll take it.
Has anyone heard about the Impossible Burger? Even more, has anyone tried it? It's a totally vegan burger, but said to taste more like meat than any other vegan/vegetarian option. They claim that the secret is in their lab-engineered heme, an organic compound that according to the Impossible Burger people "is what makes meat smell, sizzle, bleed, and taste gloriously meaty."
Anyway, a Friday evening cheeseburger is one of my favorite things in life, and the Impossible Burger is on offer at one of our local joints, so I'm strongly considering trying one this evening. Would love to hear others' reviews, slash I will report back my own feelings once I've had the chance to try it.
My ancestors are screaming "yecch!" I mean like 4,000 generations worth of ancestors.
However, I will try to keep an open mind. Please give us your review.
Is it really more healthy? I'm not yet on the vegan wagon, so I need a health based incentive to give it a try. Is there significant protein?