tim_mcf (also known as Tim), is another talented DF member we will spotlight. Tim has been a DF member since April 2005, maintains a great online training journal, and has over 2,600 quality posts to his credit. A husband, father of 3 children, and a school music teacher by profession, Tim takes his fitness seriously and the results show in the fitness transformation he has achieved. Grab a chair and get comfortable and enjoy what our cyberspace fitness brother from Montana U.S.A. has to share about himself.

Interview conducted by: DF Member IronMan

DF: Hi Tim, let’s start with a little about your background and how you got into weight training/fitness/physical culture.

Tim: I started working out in the Fall of 2004. I had never been very athletic or interested in exercise before that point; I had always been sort of heavy and out of shape. My first son had just been born, and I gained weight right along with my wife during the pregnancy. I topped out at about 285 or so. My darkest moment came when my wife told me that she wasn’t attracted to me any more and I should lose about 50 pounds. It really hit me hard; I had always been a pudgy kid and had all the mental and emotional baggage that came along with that. So I basically snapped, started exercising, and haven’t quit since. I started by just jogging a minute, walking a minute and gradually worked up to being able to continue running for a full half hour, which was a major achievement for me. I remember the day. Then I started doing the classic bodybuilding-style sets and reps stuff. After a few months I found DiscussFitness.com. I learned more about that style of training and started a journal. Pierini posted a link showing a video of a Crossfit workout, “Fran”. It blew me away – the simple fact that this type of volume was even possible at all, let alone at the blistering pace they did it. So I started doing Crossfit, eventually breaking away from the posted WOD and coming up with my own ideas. Now I do a kind of a strongman/Crossfit/power lifting/olympic lifting hybrid thing.

DF: What are your fitness goals?

Tim: I just want to be as fit as possible for as long as possible. I’m 36 years old and I have 3 very small children and I want to be around to play with my grandkids. A child’s main role model is their parent, especially their same-sex parent, and I want my kids’ mental picture of what a “man” is to be someone who is fit and capable and committed to health. That’s long-term; basically I want to be just as capable (or more so) at 65 as I am now. In the short term, I mainly am looking for more raw strength and improved conditioning. My 2007 goal is to be able to do “Linda” as prescribed. That’s a Crossfit benchmark workout where you do 10 reps each of a deadlift at 1.5 times your bodyweight, a bodyweight bench press, and .75 bodyweight clean. Then you do 9 reps of each, then 8, then 7, and so forth down to one, and all of this is supposed to be racing the clock. It’s brutal. At present my bench press is still about 25 lbs shy of my bodyweight, so I’m doing tons of pushups and other upper-body pressing movements.

DF: Do you normally train alone or with a partner(s)?

Tim: I always train alone. I always have.

DF: How would you describe your current fitness-training program? Include how many days a week you train, what time of the day you normally work out, and how long your typical training session lasts.

Tim: I don’t really have a typical training session, or a set program. I may work out 5 days in a row one week, then take two days off, then work out 3 days, then take 2 days off, then work out 1 day, take a day off, work out 4 days, take a day off…who knows. I try to not go for more than 3 days without working out, and I don’t work out for more than 5 days in a row. My “routine” is constantly changing. I have certain lifts that I do regularly, but they are constantly being combined in different ways and with different variations. The most general way I can describe what I do is: Day 1 do heavy lifting, 3 or 4 basic compound movements (bench, overhead press, pullup, squat, deadlift, snatch, clean and jerk, yoke, farmer’s walk, get up, rope climb, plate pinching). Day 2 do a high-intensity, high-rep, low-weight Crossfit-style circuit designed to make me drip sweat and gasp for air for 20 to 30 minutes. Day 3 back to the heavy lifting. Day 4 back to the Crossfit-style stuff, and so forth. Take a rest day every now and then.

For most of the summer I have been working out from about 5:15 to 6:00 (am) or so, but now school is starting--I’m a teacher--so that will probably change. The weight room at school is pretty good, so I often work out on my prep period.

DF: How has DiscussFitness helped you in your training?

Tim: DiscussFitness has helped me immensely. When I was doing the basic bodybuilding routine, I didn’t know anything about different exercises or proper form, and DiscussFitness was a really big help. DiscussFitness led me to Crossfit. The main thing DiscussFitness gives me, though, is accountability. Having the workout journal is a huge help because I know that other people are waiting to read what I have done, and they offer encouragement and kudos. It’s a huge help in just staying on track. Every now and then another member sets forth a challenge which gives me something new to work towards and gets me fired up.

DF: What kind of nutrition guidelines do you follow? Describe your current approach to nutrition.

Tim: That’s hard to describe, too. I suppose I basically try to go by the Zone diet, but I also try to lean it in a Paleo diet-like direction. Plus I attempt to stay on the Pierini plan – no soda, chips, chocolate, cookies, cake, donuts, or alcohol. However, all of this is tempered by the fact that I have 3 little kids and a wife who thinks I’m obsessive and weird. I follow my nutrition goals as closely as I can given my situation and without getting divorced. Nutrition is my big Achille’s heel when it comes to fitness. I know this, but man it’s hard to fixZone diet: http://www.zonediet.com/Paleo diet: http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

DF: When was the last time you had a training-related injury, and how much training time did you miss because of it?

Tim: I have been pretty lucky there; I haven’t been injured very seriously or often. The last time I had something get in the way of training was summer of 2005 when I hurt my ankle and couldn’t run for most of the summer. That was okay, though, I just swam instead

DF: What do you consider your top 5 most valued training tools?

Tim: The following: #1 = Olympic bar and free weights - #2 = running shoes - #3 = sandbags - #4 = pullup bar and #5 = adjustable kettlebell.

DF: What do you consider to be the most overrated exercise?

Tim: Curls

DF: Aside from fitness, do you have other recreational interests or hobbies? Tim: Unfortunately, no. Working and raising kids barely leaves time for fitness. That’s it, although I will be singing in a community choir this winter.

DF: Do you have any pets?

Tim: 2 old dogs and one old cat.

DF: What do you do for a living and how does that impact your training?

Tim: I'm a teacher. I teach high school choir, elementary school general music, and middle school band. I suppose really the only impact is that I have access to the weight room at school so I have a free place to work out when I'm not working out in my garage.

DF: Thank you so much Tim for allowing us to interview you. Best wishes for you and your family's good health, fitness and fortune. Train hard and keep the pedal to the metal!