2014 Official Chaz Fitness Challenge

Do BodyPump one day and BodyCombat another day and watch sexy, defined shoulders emerge like nobody's business.

Body combat sounds fun! I really want to start some self defense fighting classes for both cross training and the defense. Lol.

Hey Beanie, I believe it was you who posted a picture of a core strengthening calendar? Any chance you could upload that again?

This one?


This is the one I used to build up my plank time a few years back, it's also good for increasing push-ups. ("How do I learn to do more push-ups?" "Do more push-ups.") Ignore the sit-ups and crunches. Deadlift instead.

Yes, thank you!

My running partner and I rode the struggle bus last week on Week 3 of C25K. We decided to repeat it this week. I did day two earlier this afternoon and felt really good! It's awesome to see improvements just from one week to the next. I feel much more prepared for Week 4 now.

Got our Canicross equipment in the mail earlier this week, and today it was finally nice enough to try it out!

7.4km in 50 minutes this morning.
Unfortunately, the trails were icy in a lot of places so I didn't actually run the entire thing (let's face it, I probably couldn't have kept pace the entire time regardless).

But WOW I feel fantastic right now!

70 degrees is too hot bloody for a half-marathon that does NOT end in a swimming pool.

That is all.

Go Beanie!

Went for a 4 mile walk with RetrieverFever, her girlfriend, and Macleod yesterday.

Hit a major wall this week. Getting very tired quickly when my endurance should be better. :/

Check your nutrition... your calories and your macro levels. Odds are something isn't right or just isn't working for you. Track it for a week and see how it's going!

I run my first official 5k next Saturday and I'm super anxious and excited about it. I never ever thought I'd enjoy running but it really helps with my mental state lately.

I also went trail-running for the first time this week and omg I almost died from side-stitches and hills and rocks, but I had so much fun!

I've been reading like crap this week because of finals. That's probably why then.

Good luck, Katie! Let us know how it went

Just got back from a walk with the dogs. Trying to get into the swing of doing something every day.

I've been working out, just a body weight routine for the most part. I'm putting on muscle definitely, but I think with the testosterone that I'm putting on muscle a bit too fast (also, somewhat cheating, I think, so I'm now really participating in the challenge thingy) but OMFG, the muscle craps and seizing up I have it terrible. I've had to cut doing my pull ups in half just being of muscle pain.

Does anyone know supplements to help with that? I'm eating a lot of protein, and I've started eating bananas, but I'm still craving mushrooms (b-12 and D vitamins) but nothing I can think of otherwise that will help, and there's not a lot of info out there for me.

If you have muscle pain, I'd take a couple rest days honestly!

I haven't lost anything in 2 months because I haven't had a period. I'm getting so frustrated, so I've been pretty much eating at maintenance for the last week, hoping it will make it come back. I'm nowhere near underweight so I don't get it. I'd really like to lose 5 more pounds but I guess it's not going to happen.

We got a stationary bike and I've been doing intervals on it... it kills though. I swear running 3 miles is easier than 20 minutes of intervals on the bike. I'm definitely way more active than I was (20-30 minutes of bike, weight training plus 3 miles walk most days), it's a nice change. Has anyone else noticed that you can't stand being home doing nothing for a few hours now?

I work out maybe once every three to four days. And even everyday stuff will cause a muscle to seize. The only other group that puts on muscle as quickly are steriod users, and they apparently have the same issue. Zinc, potassium and magnesium are what they use to help with the muscle cramps that come with putting muscle on so quickly (I don't have a choice in the matter) and I'm going to try that for a couple weeks and see if it helps out.

I'm also eating bananas like a fiend lol.

I asked my friend who used to play basketball a lot since, well, he's a guy so far more testosterone than me. =P His suggestion is really, really hydrating. I'm not normally a fan of it, but in this instance we agree it might be appropriate to go for Gatorade - trying cut 50/50 with water first, if that doesn't seem to help go straight Gatorade. GU gels or the chews might also be an option. Monitor hydration throughout the day, not just during a workout, and see if that doesn't help.

His guess is eating bananas is probably just not delivering what you need into your system fast enough. So potassium supplements might help with that more effectively. Be careful with zinc supplements, if you take them on an empty stomach they tend to make people throw up. Even meds that just include zinc make my stomach hurt. X_X Also be careful not to take too much and not for too long... high levels for long periods of time can potentially damage the kidneys. You might also try a calcium supplement as well, calcium + magnesium seems to be a good combo to take together.


ETA: The only time I ever get muscle seizes or spasms is after a half-marathon... never on long training runs but the intensity of an actual race does it every time. I take an herbal pill for Leg Cramps made by Hyland. But AFAIK it's really mostly for leg cramps so depending on which muscles are seizing it might not help. It's pretty inexpensive and I think you can even get it at Wal-Mart now, so it might be worth a try?

Oh that sucks. The only muscles that tend to do that for me are my abs, when I do crunches.

It's mostly my shoulder muscles, traps, biceps and triceps that are causing the issue. Especially if I'm trying to do pull ups or push ups, even incline pushups, with a regular grip (I have about three different type of pushups I do in a circuit, all incline, regular, wide and diamond grip currently) my legs aren't bothering me, even doing my regular amount of squats and lunges (I am not a fan of running, so I don't bother.

I'm considering going to the pool up the street this weekend and swimming some laps and seeing if swimming causes any cramps. If it doesn't, I may just substitute a membership there and go swimming three or four times a week instead of doing my bodyweight routine until I can get the source of the problem under control.

I'm not surprised by the cramps themselves per say, I am surprised by the severity and pain of them. My biceps have gained around an inch and a half in muscle in just under three weeks, and that with hardly working out at all because of the pain.

Judging by my younger brother, I have at least another few inches to go until I reach what is normal for my families size/muscle mass without working out. I mean, he plays the drums religiously, and rides his bike everywhere, but he doesn't work out with any dedication, but he has quite a bit of muscle, naturally, and we can pass as twins with our hair cut the same so I figure it'll end up somewhere around what he looks like, though he's slightly broader in the shoulder than I am, and I'm slightly thinner in the body than he is, so not exactly the same but probably pretty close.

It's annoying once you get into a workout routine, and you feel good after your workout to having to cut it either in half or out completely. I'll be researching those supplements, and waiting to hear if they worked for my friend before starting anything, and my doctors appointment is before then anyway, so I'll be discussing the muscle pain with him.


I'm also annoyed that I could do about five dead hang pullups in a row to being able to only do one before my shoulder muscle catches fire. Steven is making sure my form is correct, so I'm not doing any of the exercises wrong, just another hurdle in the way I guess.


I'm not sure if this is important or not, but I'm still craving mushrooms, which I know are high in b12 and D, but not craving bananas, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with anything at all

Thanks everyone for all your ideas!