General Discussion Introduce Yourself!!! » Big beef, little beef Rss Feed  
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2015-09-25 3:05 AM


3

Subject: Big beef, little beef
Hi all!

Been lurking around, and I've made up my mind. You guys are all crazy as hell and I love it. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I'm converting to the religion of the endurance gods, and this be my first temple.

A little history. I'm currently 28yrs old, male, 105kg and about 15% body fat. I'm a long time weightlifter, and I recently got back in the gym past few months. My genetic predisposition and training history lends itself to rapid gains - I went from 95kg to 105kg in 2 months. A teenagers wet dream, perhaps. It was fun for a while, but all my old injuries have come back, getting into shirts is a nightmare and I feel like I'm walking around in a mech suit.

Basically, I've had enough. Fed up of the vanity, of the gym atmosphere/culture/bioscience, high protein diets, not fitting into clothes and just generally looking like a meat head. I got into fitness to improve my life, but now it's just weighing it down. Literally and figuratively!

I want to be able to bound up hills, cycle across the flats. Sit half lotus on my meditation cushion. Be fit for life! Not big, strong and crippled...thats no way to live.

I've seen a handful of posts similar to this one. Big guys throwing the towel in, going a different route. Triathlons have always interested me. I used to love running and cycling, and I'm not bad in the pool considering I have the body profile and density of one of Jupiter's lesser planets.

I know it will take a long time to convert over. Muscle fibres, muscle size, bodyweight, metabolic energy systems, fat stores and aerobic capacity will all have to change quite drastically. I don't expect to be competitive for many years, from what I've read. Although the lifestyle interests me more than winning at this point (just keep me away from the checkered flag and I'll be fine...).

My main concerns are twofold. I put on size and fat easily, and lose it slowly. I don't want to be the skinny fat guy. More concerning are my injuries...

Both knees don't track properly, so pain around the patella on concentric movements. And eccentric come to think of it. I'm trying to loosen my ITB, open up my hips (very tight), but having limited success. I suspect muscle imbalances and just years of abuse. This injury has been there for about 7 years, and gets worse with activity.

My lower back gets very tight, painfully tight, especially under loaded deadlifts, squats etc. I've had to stop all that the past few weeks just to get it to calm down. I've got lacrosse balls, foam rollers. Again, little success.

Knees. Back. Absolutely central to cycling, swimming and running. Especially the latter. Do I even stand a chance? :S

I have a lot of willpower, commitment, pain threshold etc. Just show me the way, learned masters, and I will walk it.



2015-09-25 8:13 AM
in reply to: Zenfires

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Subject: RE: Big beef, little beef

Zen,

Former lifter too...though I didn't put on mass easily.  Ease into this though...there is no hurry, do it right.  Hop right into swimming now, start walking and some informal riding 2-3x/week building to 30-60 minutes - no speedwork.  Migrate your body into bodyweight exercises to maintain muscle - pushups, pullups, situps, dips, etc.  Get rid of the barbell! 

Yoga could do you some good to loosen up some parts too.

2015-09-26 4:38 AM
in reply to: #5143013


3

Subject: RE: Big beef, little beef
Sounds like sound advice. I noticed you missed out running for now; my suspicion has been that I might need to give my knees a long break before I try that...

First yoga session this morning - it's definitely going to become a thing!

I think I need to consider the first year as weight loss and rehab.
2015-09-26 10:39 AM
in reply to: Zenfires


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Subject: RE: Big beef, little beef
I have been into both weight lifting and endurance/cardio sports for nearly 20 years. Triathlon is very new to me. I would first recommend being evaluated by a dr. to see what they have to say. If running is discouraged you can look into aquabike which is like a triathlon without the run.

In regards to the belly. I have been the opposite. I have a harder time gaining mass, and trainers have told me I will never be big but I can get the "Bruce Lee body".

I always had a harder time getting those bottom 2 abs to show. As an experiment, I took out weights, did a lot of hard running. Really hard running. Followed by 200 crunches after every run and wound up with a 6 pack on a skinny, almost bony body.

I have noticed through laziness, when I train for a race, I tend to slack on the weights and often replace some weeks with push ups, pull ups, crunches, and body squats. I still lose weight but save a pound or two of muscle. You might try body weight exercises and if you do use the gym make it high reps lower weight.

I'm actually really happy. For the first time I actually maintained both sports reasonably well. First time in my life, I improved in both at the same time, but my time spent went from 5-6 hours a week to 8-12 hours a week, and I'm also a little older now so metabolism might have something
to do with it.
2015-09-28 3:17 AM
in reply to: #5143204


3

Subject: RE: Big beef, little beef
Yeah, I've used bodyweight conditioning almost solely in the past. It is easier on the back for sure, but I still stay very big. I do not need much stimulation in order to maintain or grow muscle -I'm just genetically wired for anabolism.

If I was go from 104 - 82kg total bodyweight, about 70% of that would be lean tissue, ending up at approx 12% body fat.

Im going to try people's suggestions, as well as ultra low volume resistance training, primarily targeting the nervous system and strength. Any kind of calisthenic routines at this point will likely cause more hypertrophy...!

I've had some knowledgeable friends help me diagnose the knee/back issues. Turns out my ITB, Piriformis, hips and glutes are all tight as hell. I'll be hitting the yoga studio/torture ball 4 times a week and see what happens...

Thanks all for the input.
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