AT Health & Fitness: Member Profiles

[RagingBITCH]

In an effort to get to know everyone and their main areas of interest/specialty on the H&F forum, I think it'd be nice if everyone shared some info about themselves. It seems like there's a wide variety of different interests and tastes that AT members share - everything from martial arts, MMA, lifting weights, nutrition, etc.

I read threads and am surprised to find out that this guy does this, or this guy has been
doing sport X for 35 years, etc. Think it'd be nice if we all shared a little bit about ourselves and get to know each other better.

Feel free to use the template, or list your own info as you creatively see fit. Not all info is required.

Name:
Age:
Stats:
Location:
Main interest/specialty:
Length of time:
Future interests/goals:

Picture:

Other info:

 

[RagingBITCH]

Name: Mel
Age: 27
Stats: 5?10?, 158lbs
Location: Plano, TX (Dallas)
Main interest/specialty: Running, Weights
Length of time: 2.5 years running, 8 years lifting weights
Future interests/goals: would like to someday run the Boston marathon, become a better swimmer, and take part in a Half Ironman (no desire to do a full IM)

Picture: http://www.melvinchu.com/coppe...e.php?album=111&pos=27 (I?m the guy on the left)

Other info/random facts: Completed 3 full marathons, about 4 halfs, numerous 5/10/15/20K?s. Was never an athlete growing up ? ran a 13:30 best 1 minute mile, (no that?s not a typo) no hits in one season of Little League. (I had one hit which was an error ? got to second base and got a standing ovation, if it gives you any indication of how bad I was)

Have lifted weights since freshman year of college. Ballooned up to 200lbs during college (I thought it was a healthy weight with all my working out), dropped to 180ish after college and since have dropped a solid 25 of that since taking up running. Enjoy weights and have tried or done pretty much every weight training program available. Was studying for my NASM CPT, will eventually finish and become certified, but to an extent, it bores me lifting now. (I do it only to become a better runner)

Would like to get my RRCA certification and help train runners eventually, but missed the opportunity this past fall. Big goals are to run a 1:45 half, sub 4:10 full this year. Eventually, would love to run a 1:30 half, qualify for Boston, and do the forementioned Half Ironman. (I can barely swim one length of the pool ? I?m clueless as to where to start and how to get better at swimming)

I always drink beer the night before a distance run or a race. If you?ve never tried it, try it. You can?t say it doesn?t work or it?s stupid until you have.

I?m insanely ticklish. I?ve always wanted to wrestle/take up ground combat techniques like brazilian jiu jitsu, but squealing like a little girl in full guard is pretty embarrassing. Enjoy watching MMA though.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Name: Brent
Age: 20
Stats: 5'8", 161
Location: Davis, CA
Main interest/specialty: Sprints, weightlifting, powerlifting, BJJ. Also interested in nutrition and sports and take classes to further my knowledge.
Length of time: Been an athlete most of my life. Been lifting seriously for over 2 years now, sprinting since I could walk.
Future interests/goals: Squat 400 pounds, deadlift 450+, still have slight hopes of running a sub-50 400m, would like to take up Muay Thai and be able to do the splits at some point.

I've been an athlete all my life and have loved being active. This has led me to become an exercise bio major, studying what I like most. I have great genetics for lifting and have a very adaptive nervous system because I started so young. I've been quite blessed that way. I intend to get a sprint training certification, as well as ACE certification in the near future to help me pay some college bills. I toy with the idea of a powerlifting competition often and am trying to get my bench up/rehab my shoulder to make that a legitimate possibility. I eat spot on every day except for treating myself to one thing (whether it be a popsicle, a soda, whatever). I also believe that current popular nutrition is a joke and that there are a lot of things we have yet to figure out.

Potential quirk: I train alone. 99% of the time unless I have to go with someone to get me in.

 

[silverpig]

Name: George
Age: 27
Stats: 6'3", 184 lbs
Location: Vancouver, BC
Main interest/specialty: Running?
Length of time: 4 months
Future interests/goals: Marathons

Picture: curls.jpg (the curls were a temporary modeling thing.

Other info: Been an athlete all my life. Started off with soccer, then added rugby, then moved over to rowing. Trained with some guys who ended up winning olympic golds. Got super busy with life and my fitness level dropped, and I got up to 206 lbs and hardly able to run at all just this past New Year's. I decided to get back into shape and have been running ever since. I'm working up to doing a marathon in October if I can put the time in for it.

 

[Mikey]

Name: Mike
Age: 23
Stats: 6'0?, 175lbs
Location: Houston, TX
Main interest/specialty: Weightlifting & Volleyball
Length of time: 3 yrs weightlifting and 8 years volleball
Future interests/goals: My goal is to weight 175lbs and have only a body fat percentage of 7%. My current body fat % is about 10-11%.

Picture: Here's a picture of me a few years back when I first began weightlifting. I have a much better build now. I'll try to get a more current image up.

I have played volleyball throughout high school up into Varsity. Ever since high school, I still play indoor and beach volleyball as a favorite pastime. As for weightlifting, I have been doing it for about 3 years so far. Over time, I eventually went from a 2 hour split training session 5 times a week down to a 3 day a week full body workout routine. Bill Starr 5x5 - Madcow Linear FTW!

Eventually, once I am done with school, I would love to take up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and get into MMA. I kickbox for leisure, but I am huge into UFC and martial arts.

Many people are very materialistic by nature, but I've learned to value my body and health more than anything else besides my friends and family. I strive to build and improve upon my mental and physical capabilities. I eat right and exercise hard. In the end, everything else flows by a bit nicer for me.

 

[dealmaster00]

Name: Tony
Age: 21
Stats: 5'5" 157 lbs. Squat: 340, DL: 360, Bench: 215, Press: 148 (est. 1RMs based on 5RMs).
Location: PA
Main interest/specialty: Strength Training
Length of time: 13 months
Future interests/goals: Keep getting stronger/bigger!

Picture: Maybe another time

Other info: Used to run 1.25 years ago, weighed 120 lbs. Got sick of being skinny and wanted to get bigger! Started off on Stronglifts 5x5, currently on Mad Cow 5x5 Intermediate program. Like Brent I tend to eat spot on every day...often leaving me with comments from co-workers/friends about my "odd" eating habits (eat 5-6 meals/day). I also like training alone...get done quicker that way. Also my sister just started a beginners strength training program, she is ridiculously strong for being untrained (some of her work sets are at intermediate level 1RMs!) If only I had her genetics...

 

[zebano]

Name: Shawn
Age: 28
Stats: 5'10" 178 lbs.
Location: Iowa
Main interest/specialty: Tennis, Basketball
Length of time: I've been trying to get healthy for 3 years, I played tennis in high school as well.
Future interests/goals: Get to lighter weight to be faster, save my knees & general health (family history of bad cholesterol). Win a tennis tournament and get promoted to a higher level of play eventual goal of winning a match at 4.5NTRP (currently 3.5).
Picture: read the weight, I'm fat.

Other info: Ran CC and played tennis in high school. Running distance by yourself is really boring however so I never kept it up. I ballooned in weight in college due to inactivity, bad eating habits and too much computer gaming (D2). Lost weight initially by just cutting pop from my diet (235 -> 200) now down to just under 180 by adding exercise and some lifting but I've been stalled here for about a year now. Tennis I've now played 3 tournaments getting bounced in the first round once, simi-finals once and losing a finald 62 63. Next tournament: tomorrow! I ran my first 5k since high school this February at a terrible pace finishing in 24:30. I used to love biking but I can't adjust my bike right and it aggravates my right knee so I've given it up for now.

 

[KoolDrew]

Name: Andrew
Age: 20
Stats: 6'2" 215lbs
Location: Upstate NY

Main interest/specialty: I'm just fascinated with the subject and try to learn as much as possible as a result. I find myself reading constantly to further my knowledge. The main thing I'm interested in is body recomp (in other words, looking good naked), including muscle gain and fat loss with a little bit more interest in the fat loss aspect. While the basic principles always remains the same, things change when dealing with individuals who are already fairly lean (10%) trying to get even leaner, especially with women who have problems with lower body fat. Though many men still have problems with low back and abdominal fat, and if they have quite a bit of lower body fat show the same problems women do. This is where my main interest lies.

Oh, and I like to lift heavy things.

Length of time: I started getting interested in the subject back in late 2005. I was a fat kid at around 265 pounds (mainly from sitting at the computer all day and liking food) and was looking to lose weight. However, with the vast majority of the information on the internet being either flat out wrong or completely unnecessary, I found it very difficult to become successful with my fat loss. I was under the impression that everything had to be perfect for my diet to work. I was under the impression due to all the reading I've done that I had to stick to certain foods, eat them at certain times, get my macronutrient ratios perfect, and then plan my meals out accordingly. Obviously as a high school kid who really can just eat what was available to him, this was difficult. This is why when you see me talk about fat loss I try to make it a bit more simple. Really when starting out I believe people should worry about a calorie deficit, protein intake and EFA's, and very little else. Experiment with other things later on, but get those basics down first.

I still ended up losing the weight getting down to about 185-190, but I was skinny-fat at that point. I had little muscle mass since I didn't really lift, and I didn't really pay attention to protein intake or anything, I just ate less. Since then I couldn't stand having absolutely no muscle mass I started getting into lifting.

Unfortunately I don't really have a picture with my shirt off, but this picture was taken I believe late 2006/early 2007, after I lost the weight, but before I got into lifting. I played football since 7th grade so I did lift a bit, but unfortunately didn't take it very seriosly. It wasn' until the beginnning of my senior year in high school I got into lifting doing the Starting Strength routine. I got the book, learned the lifts, and saw a lot of strength gains, but didn't much size gains. I saw a little, but not much and this was due to my poor diet. Here is a picture of around that point.

After that I started messing around with bodybuilding splits and didn't make much gains. I just didn't find it interesting I think was the main problem. Then I started Madcows 5x5 variation and started packing down a crap load of calories and protein. I saw very nice strength gains (405 squat, 275 bench, and 495 deadlift) and grew as a result. I did pack on more fat than I should have since I didn't really keep track of calories, but here is the result.

At this point I figured it was time to cut and I messed around with PSMF's and this was the result (I've posted this one before):
http://img514.imageshack.us/im...812799b9f6ada744e1.jpg

Since then I unfortunately haven't made much of any progress. I've been on and off dieting pretty much. I'd gain fat, get lean, get fat. It wasn't until recently I started dieting again being a lot more flexible this time around and I plan on bulking slowly afterwards, only gaining 2-4 pounds a month. Since I just got out of a 1.5 year long relationship where most of my time was devoted to her, I have a lot more time to myself now to make this happen.

I am also currently working out a deal with another gym who is currently selling the place. If things go through my brother and I will be the new owners July 1st.

Future interests/goals: Get back on track with diet/exercise, which I've already began doing. Besides that I am currently enrolled at a community college for their physical education program, planning on transfering to another school once that is over with. At this point I'm not completely sure what though. Something to do with nutrition or exercise definitely, but not sure exactly what.

Oh, and I type too damn much.

 

[Alone]

Name: Undisclosed
Age: 21
Stats: 5'11/160lbs
Location: Borden, Ontario.

Main interest/specialty: Currently my main interest would have to be more geared towards cardivascular. Being in the military, my first priority is to be able to run long distances, and carry heavy loads for long distances. Basically I want to be physically fit in all aspects, not just focused on one. I'm content with my current endurance in regards to cardio, so I'm trying to move towards weightlifting. I want to look as good as I feel, basically.

 

[brikis98]

Name: Jim
Age: 24
Stats: 5'11", 185lbs, ~12% bf
Location: Cambridge, MA
Main interest/specialty: Crossfit & general physical preparedness, strength training, diet
Future interests/goals: too many to list - check out the first page of my crossfit journal. My main goal is to increase every aspect of my fitness (strength, power, speed, endurance, stamina, agility, etc).
Other info: I think I went through the typical progression as many other people on this forum:

1. Start out as an overweight kid who wants to look better naked.
2. Took up jogging. Lost a little weight and gained a little endurance, but still looked terrible naked.
3. Took up a 5 day/week BB style split routine. Gained a little muscle mass and some strength (mostly upper body), lost some endurance, and got some injuries from the muscle balances I developed (e.g. too much bench press). Overall, the results were unsatisfying.
4. Learned about Starting Strength, Bill Starr 5x5 and "proper" strength training. Massive facepalm #1. Started a 3 day/week fully body strength training routine with cardio on the off days. Big gains in strength and muscle mass, medium gains in fat (got up to 223lbs), and small gains in endurance.
5. Learned about the importance of diet. Read "Good Calories, Bad Calories", "In Defense of Food", "The Zone", and a bunch of other diet books & diet studies. Massive facepalm #2. Lost 43lbs (dropped to 180lbs).
6. Learned about Crossfit and GPP. Massive facepalm #3. Saw huge gains in strength, power, speed, endurance, stamina, flexibility, agility, etc. Learned a ton of new skills (muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, o-lifts, front & back levers, pistols, kip-ups, etc). By every measure, Crossfit got me into the best shape of my life.

I'm definitely looking forward to learning more as I go along. It's interesting to note that even though my current focus is entirely on performance - even my weight and bf% changes are tailored towards (or the result of) increasing my level of fitness - I look better naked now than ever before. I guess form follows function.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Name: Roy

Age: 26

Stats: 5'11" 179 lbs (as of 6/5/2009)

Location: Central Louisiana

Main interest/specialty: Bodybuilding with main focus on appearance. Performance-related gains are of secondary interest.

Length of time: 1 year 4 months

Future interests/goals: Maintaining current BF % while continuing muscle/strength gains.

Picture: Will post when I get home. Edit: Here's a pic 6/5/09 I may add more pics if I see noticeable improvement during the time this thread is active.

Other info: I was a big weight room guy as a teenager and played football on my HS team. I lost the desire to exercise at some point during college and at the same time picked up some unhealthy habits, the combination of which made going to the gym harder and harder as time went by. Eventually i gave up on exercise and between 2002 and 2008 my weight ballooned from a muscular 175-180 lbs to a soft and flabby ~245 lbs. Also during that time my drinking and smoking took a greater and greater toll on my body and state of mind.

By the beginning of last year my noticeably declining health had gotten to the point where my previous level of fitness seemed like a distant memory and any thought of ever returning to it was an impossible fantasy. One random day in February 2008 (February 2nd to be exact) I just decided to start running. Running with a hangover every day is next to impossible, so I quit drinking the next week. The next month I started accumulating weight-lifting equipment, which soon took over my routine as it was giving me the most noticeable payoff. When I started seeing some real results I realized that I couldn't possibly count on any long term success if I kept smoking, so I quit that too. So over the last year I've dropped all my major vices (cigarettes and alcohol) and gotten back some of the vigor I used to have. I'm proud to say that I am back down to around my previous weight, a loss of ~65lbs to date.

I lift at home and alone 100% of the time, but I don't feel that's held my progress back significantly. I'm a stickler for proper form and I'm very cautious in judging my capabilities on the dangerous lifts. I wish I had the foresight to take a few pics before I had lost any significant amount because the difference is pretty striking, but I will post a current shot later.

Edit: Added pic and more info

 

[RKS]

Name: RKS
Age: In my 30s (until late July :laugh: )
Stats: 5' 10" 175lbs.
Location: SW Ohio
Main interest/specialty: able to eat a large thin crust pizza without flinching.
Length of time: I have played team sports all of my life
Future interests/goals: to be in good enough shape to challenge my kids at any sport until my wife tells me to grow up.

Picture: A few years ago. I am probably in better shape today.

Other info: I played soccer probably 4X/week before law school. Between working full-time, school, and trying to raise a family, something had to give. I weighed almost 200 lbs at the beginning of this year.

We joined the Y in February and I now go to the gym a few times a week and am getting in pretty good shape even though I absolutely hate running. I also work out at home. I now play indoor soccer again without the fear of dying and it is a great workout. Hopefully I can tone up a little more without sacrificing my pizza-eating skills.

 

[StageLeft]

Name: Skoorb
Age: 31
Stats: 5'11", 185 lbs
Location: CRochester, NY
Main interest/specialty: triathlon & weights
Length of time: endurance sports four years, weights 15
Future interests/goals: everything and I do mean everything centers around resolving as much as possible patellar tendinosis in my right knee so that I can train to the point I want to. This kicked in back in 05 during marathon training and I've been furloughing and/or changing race goals ever since, along with lots of reading/changing therapy/strengthening approaches. All my triathlons have been sprint distance and I've placed in my age group or won it each time. I didn't race in 08, so that I could work on my knee more. It's better now but not perfect by any means. I'd eventually like to do an IM but won't even dream of it until/unless I can get rid of this.

Picture: Not right now!

Other info: Like somebody above, I train mostly alone, 99% of the time (exception a few spin classes). This is due to scheduling and being able to also dictate exactly what level of intensity. Further, all of my training involves music. If I cannot listen to music I will not train. I will not ride, run, and now thanks to swimp3 I will not swim. I eat a lot. I should be 170 now but I like food. From time to time I manage to hook into a motivational wave that will stay with me for quite a while and I become obsessively diligent with working out and diet. I think I'm in a wave like that right now. Races have a great way of focusing me (and others) away from apathy. I signed up for one yesterday, first race in two years for July 18 so now it's on.

 

[Titan]

Name: Titan
Age: 28
Stats: 6'4" 360 pounds
Location: VT
Main interest/specialty: martial arts, cardio I can do (elliptical, hiking with poles)
Length of time: Back into gym start of '09, did TKD '95-00
Future interests/goals: Main goal is to lose fat, maintain muscle, and be able to throw jump spinning kicks again.

Other info: (short life story) I'm your resident hippie and computer burnout. In general I am always interested in secret things that most people don't know about, I like to see how they can be leveraged. So I'm not so much a hippie, as I have tried a lot of new age things and observed how my body does, and I keep what works for me. I also abuse myself to work very hard and am good at overcoming the toughest of challenges, though I tend to ignore the easier challenges and get bored, looking for an easy/interesting way out. In other words, I am an extremist and should learn balance, but it sounds boring to me.

I trained in Tae Kwon Do in High school with a great school, went to nationals 3 times and took gold for sparring one year. I got my black belt in '98 and taught, eventually as head instructor of the school.

I discovered I am smart and a good teacher so I learned a lot from that. When I got to college my priorities became get a good job and my training took a back seat, because I couldn't find a school to train with, none of them matched my standards for proper technique. I was about 240-250 pounds while doing TKD, with 220 maybe being ideal for me, I am a big-framed bear.

I was kinda depressed in school, got through it ending up around 300 pounds. I was one of the best programmers in my class so I worked for a big corporation upon graduation. My hope for things to be better than school turned out the opposite as I was more depressed and stressed and had some big old issues to deal with. I gained 94 pounds in 2 years though disposable income and stress eating, changed jobs back to my home state, and burned out bad one day. Like I kept pushing myself until part of my brain had to shut down to recover.

I had no idea how heavy I was at that point so I began a journey of healing where for 2 years I lost weight and repaired my brain and learned a lot about health from a holistic perspective. I figured out the root cause of some of my issues and never would have imagined it came from emotional abuse from a parent who I have now disowned. It was an incredible challenge and I feel lucky to have survived my own personal hell. Now I work to keep making myself better, as I have everything in place and want to get in better physical shape. I work as a programmer again and life is good. I was given a second chance that few people get and I'm not going to waste it.

My main goal is to follow my plan and get out of debt in 2 years with agressive payments (instead of 4) and also in those 2 years get down to 220 pounds. I started out at 386 in feb and now am down to 360 and keeping it up.

I am most interested in "alternative" practices if they work. I know a bit about fasting and cleansing. The main thing is I am good at listening to my body, and have an open mind.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Name: Mark
Age: 26
Stats: 5'9", 138lbs
Location: Burnaby, BC
Main interest/specialty: Running
Length of time: 12 years

Pics:
http://i186.photobucket.com/al...on%202009/IMG_1640.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/al...%20pics/Picture004.jpg

Other info:

Growing up, I was a skinny kid. I played soccer, and baseball and rode my bike, but I wasn't really in overly good shape.

I took up running at 14, and competed for a local track club (Kajaks), and later my varsity team (University of Victoria). Main events were 3000m, 5000m, and cross-country, although I also ran some 1500m races. Best finishes: 5th at 5000m Canadian Championships, 3rd at BC Cross Country Championships, 5th at BC High School CC Championships.

I had some injuries throughout high school and uni - stress fractures, ITB, hip flexor despite stretching, weight lifting and yoga.

Post-university, I have trained solo 99% of the time (occasionally I'll do a long run with a friend). I feel I control my pacing and intensity better alone. I currently run 5-6 times per week (max 100km/week) and do core strength/stability 3x per week (assortment of weights and ball work).

I'm a flexitarian. I have cut out red meat almost entirely, and I eat mostly fish, chicken, tofu, beans, eggs, plus dairy, fruits and veggies, and a LOT of whole grains.

PRs:
3000m (8:38)
5000m (15:23)
10k (33:36)
1/2 Mar (1:17:25)
Marathon (2:50:07)

Future interests/goals: I'm all about marathoning right now. Next marathon in October: shooting for 2:40, but would be happy with 2:44. Eventually want to run sub-2:30.

Since adding core strengthening to my program 4 months ago, I have gotten much stronger and more resistant to injuries. I plan to gradually build my program and gradually build my mileage and interval work, while avoiding injuries.

 

[SWScorch]

Name: Matt (but most folks call me george)
Age: 25 (on the 29th, anyway)
Stats: 5'10", 135 lbs
Location: Rochester, NY
Main interest/specialty: long distance running
Length of time: 10 years
Future interests/goals: 16:30 5K, 2:45:00 marathon

Picture:from the Twisted Ankle half marathon in May

Other info: Ummm... PRs are 16:40 5K, 27:32 8K, 1:19:05 half, 3:18:42 marathon (crashed and burned 16 miles in). I was never a good runner and only broke 19 minutes after deciding to get serious and start training heavily. I'm a big believer in high mileage; I hit 85 miles per week training for 5K/8K last year and hope to hit 100mpw this year. That coupled with a structured plan of hills, long intervals and tempo runs has garnered me marked improvements across the board. That's about it I suppose.

 

[EvilYoda]

Name: Joe
Age: 27
Stats: 5'11", 166lb
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Main interest/specialty: CrossFit
Length of time: Basic weightlifting for 2 years, CrossFit for 3.5 months
Future interests/goals: I'd like to get back into some form of martial arts, along with improving my olympic lifting ability. Appearance-wise, I look pretty decent, but I'm very specific about how I want to look, so that's what I'll be working on (in addition to improving my numbers).

 

[Pantlegz]

Name: Brad
Age: 24
Stats: 6'0", 230lbs
Location: Manhattan, KS
Main interest/specialty: weights/BJJ/Muay Thai
Length of time: on and off since highschool

Other info: I grew up a pretty big, the lightest I remember being was about 180lbs in 9th grade and I was in great shape, benching over 200. Just now getting into MMA, lots of fun. Been lifting since I was 16, just gotten lazy lately.


Future interests/goals: Hope to get down to 210ish, or really get my bf% down to a decent number. I'll always be 'over weight' as long as I look good I don't care about the number.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: SWScorch
Name: Matt (but most folks call me george)
Age: 25 (on the 29th, anyway)
Stats: 5'10", 135 lbs
Location: Rochester, NY
Main interest/specialty: long distance running
Length of time: 10 years
Future interests/goals: 16:30 5K, 2:45:00 marathon

Picture:from the Twisted Ankle half marathon in May

Other info: Ummm... PRs are 16:40 5K, 27:32 8K, 1:19:05 half, 3:18:42 marathon (crashed and burned 16 miles in). I was never a good runner and only broke 19 minutes after deciding to get serious and start training heavily. I'm a big believer in high mileage; I hit 85 miles per week training for 5K/8K last year and hope to hit 100mpw this year. That coupled with a structured plan of hills, long intervals and tempo runs has garnered me marked improvements across the board. That's about it I suppose.

I know I'm not the only one to tell you this, but you are skiiiiiinnnyy. I never was very good at distance since I'm a bit more meaty. If you feel good and like running though, man, then I guess I really just gotta say more power to ya.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: SWScorch
Name: Matt (but most folks call me george)
Age: 25 (on the 29th, anyway)
Stats: 5'10", 135 lbs
Location: Rochester, NY
Main interest/specialty: long distance running
Length of time: 10 years
Future interests/goals: 16:30 5K, 2:45:00 marathon

Picture:from the Twisted Ankle half marathon in May

Other info: Ummm... PRs are 16:40 5K, 27:32 8K, 1:19:05 half, 3:18:42 marathon (crashed and burned 16 miles in). I was never a good runner and only broke 19 minutes after deciding to get serious and start training heavily. I'm a big believer in high mileage; I hit 85 miles per week training for 5K/8K last year and hope to hit 100mpw this year. That coupled with a structured plan of hills, long intervals and tempo runs has garnered me marked improvements across the board. That's about it I suppose.

I know I'm not the only one to tell you this, but you are skiiiiiinnnyy. I never was very good at distance since I'm a bit more meaty. If you feel good and like running though, man, then I guess I really just gotta say more power to ya.

Actually that's a very healthy weight for a marathoner, assuming he also does some type of weight-lifting or strengthening, and is thus at a low BF%.

If you look at my profile, I used to be 8-9lbs lighter (at the same height) in university, and I was running very fast then. Mind you I had less muscle mass and less power than I do now, so it's a trade-off.

 

[Megatomic]

Name: Jeff
Age: 39
Stats: 5'10", 180 pounds
Location: BFE, Upstate NY
Main interest/specialty: Endurance racing events (trail/triathlon/adventure)
Length of time: 3 years
Future interests/goals: I want to compete in a half Iron triathlon and a 50K trail race in 2010, and compete in a full Iron triathlon within the next few years.

Picture: My son and I at the Medved Madness Trail Run in May

Other info: I've only become an athlete this year and never exercised of my own volition until 2006. I've lost what must be close to 130 pounds of fat since then and I plan to stay healthy and active for the rest of my life.

My long term goals are to drop my bodyfat to 10% or less for at least a little while, to compete in as many races as a I safely can and have fun doing it, and to earn the title "Ironman".

 

[irishScott]

Name: Scott
Age: 21
Stats: 5'11" 185 lbs
Location: Herndon VA (home) and Newark DE (college)
Main interest/specialty: Krav Maga, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, Backpacking/Hiking, Rafting, Cycling, Nutrition
Length of Time: 11 years for Soccer, 2 years for everything else
Future interests/goals: Current short term goals are to get in good enough shape to lug a 70 lb pack around in the backcountry for a week. Beyond that I'd like to burn the mild layer of fat covering everything and get down to the lower 180s. Nothing serious really. I'd like to get more into Krav Maga and start learning Eskrima, but unfortunately there's no place in Newark that offers either, so I'm stuck doing both 3 months out of the year for now.

Picture: At some point.

Other info: Nothing really to say. I'm a self-styled renaissance man with a focus on Engineering. I'm casually athletic, enough to play some intramural sports and pick up games if I find the time. I love anything outdoors and Martial Arts.

 

[NGC_604]

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[sash1]

Name: Sasha
Age: 22
Stats: 5'10" 130-135lbs
Location: home of RJ Reynolds
Main interest/specialty: gettin' huge
Length of time: started running when i was 5, quit after HS and started lifting 5 years ago
Future interests/goals: get huge. i was 110lbs exiting HS. i like how i look around 135, so i stay around that weight.
i injured my back late last year. so i've still be rehabbing and strengthening it. i'd love to get back into doing C&Js and heavy squats again, but i'm not going to risk hurting my back again at this point.
eventually i'd like to get back into cycling, always loved that more than running, i was just really fast so i stuck with it.

Picture: i suppose i should get a recent pic but: Text

Other info: hi

 

[Onita]

Name: Onita
Age:24
Stats:5'11" 190ish
Location: Ohio
Main interest/specialty: None really... enjoy weightlifting and some cardio. Play baseball
Length of time: Not long enough!
Future interests/goals:
I was ~160 lbs about 3 years ago. Started going to school and working full time (gone from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.), eating junk, not getting enough sleep, and not working out. Just graduated, yay! I now have more time and have been doing a 3 day split for the last 3 months or so, but not as consistently as I like. My SO and I enjoy riding bikes, so if we ride I don't workout. I also just began playing baseball again for the first time in about 7 years so I'm getting into shape for that.

Picture: Noooooo