Reply With QuoteScots Taffer, in the Fitness thread, with the deep-fried Mars bar.Originally Posted by Scots Taffer
Tried it Sunday. I've always liked doing "squat thrusts" for an aerobic workout in a confined space, and the burpee is a good extension to that (+1). I couldn't manage the handstand push-ups without cheating. I used to do them when I was in my 20s, but my deltoids aren't nearly as strong anymore. One issue I'm still stuck on is that it's difficult to find something to do pull-ups from, and I don't have any good alternatives with a pull down or rowing motion to work the lats and traps.
In low-moderate quantities, the only downside I'm aware of is that alcohol is a diuretic. But if you're eating a high protein diet with creatine supplement for muscle gain, that can stress your kidneys. And heavy drinking can also stress your kidneys.
Dead link for meGive 5BX a try; as I mentioned, it's just 11 mins a day and, while it wont get you in top shape, it will get your heart rate up and, if my case is any indication, give you noticeable energy and morale boostPlus, 11 mins!
I have 5 Thai, 1 Japanese, 1 Chinese, 1 Indonesian, 1 Indian, and 4 Italian cafes within a short walk from my apartment plus a few nicer restaurants, so I tend to eat a lot of Asian and Italian when I'm home. I should cut back on the pasta, pizza, and rice. The bigger problem is that I spend ~1/3 of my time away from home, the majority of that in southern England in places where healthy eating seems more of a challenge at the end of a long day. I know, excuses, excuses...AS for eating out... I am trying to get out of a stigmatization rut because, honestly, eating out is only as unhealthy as you make it (and in many cases, can even be healthier than homecooked meals).
If you are concerned about calories, just eat less (many restaurants now show caloric amounts next to dishes). I routenily pack half my plate for a nice lunch the next day
If you are concerned about "healthiness" well... go for the better options then. Ya you can get fat and carb ladden fetucine alfredo, or the grilled chicken on sauted veggies. Take-out sandwiches are usually no worse than those you make at home, and you can always ask for whole-wheat bread or no mayo/cheese/dressing on the side.
Also look into non-US cuisines that are NOT US-ran chains. Asian food in particular tends to be pretty healthy, but again I am talking mostly about local shops ran by actual asians, not Panda Express. I just had some Korean BBQ the other day - a whole plate of chicken and pork I just grilled myself? Kimchee and Broccoli-salad sides? This shit is healtheir than half the meals I cook at home
Scots Taffer, in the Fitness thread, with the deep-fried Mars bar.
Errr, I think you are looking at the other end of the program, it starts really tame and each chart ups the difficulty. Initially I was doing only like 5 knee pushups, building to like 15, then it switches to full push up, then a wide push up etc. Same for all the other exercises. So if you start at the bottom (as you should) its so easy you will probably feel you can do more, but give it a few weeks and it will start kicking your butt
And I am in the same category as you, my arms have always been my weakest link. I can do all the exercise at 2x the capacity easily, but I can baaarely reach the required push-up counts :/ I cheat by taking like 10-second recovery breaks halfway through and going over the 1 minute limit but hey, whats a guy gunna do right?
Dead link for me
Ya the site seems to have been funking out lately, but just google and you'll find plenty of PDFs of the program (and modern, updated versions). Here's one. you may want to try to look yourself, I hear there are newer and updated version that are supposed to be a bit more safe (and lemme know if you find it, I havent found one but I didnt look too hard either).
Aye, same issue I have when I try to do at-home exercise. I've been using my broom propped on two books to hold on to for push ups so I dont strain my wrists too much, but I cant think of any two higher things to prop it on for lying pull ups. Chairs have... not worked out too well in the pastOne issue I'm still stuck on is that it's difficult to find something to do pull-ups from,
Aye, I can see your dilemma. Do you like biking? You can always get a cheapo bike and extend your reachable distance, if there's better alternatives - this way you get both food AND exercise on your lunch breakI have 5 Thai, 1 Japanese, 1 Chinese, 1 Indonesian, 1 Indian, and 4 Italian cafes within a short walk from my apartment plus a few nicer restaurants, so I tend to eat a lot of Asian and Italian when I'm home. I should cut back on the pasta, pizza, and rice. The bigger problem is that I spend ~1/3 of my time away from home, the majority of that in southern England in places where healthy eating seems more of a challenge at the end of a long day. I know, excuses, excuses...Alternatively, if you have time and resources (not so much when traveling) you can make your own lunches / sandwiches. Even doing it only 1/3 or half the time might be beneficial to your health.
Oh and switch to brown rice, and you dont need to worry about having too much of it, afaik its an excellent source of carbs, which you do need in your diet.
And after living in North Ireland and traveling around, I can fully understand the extra difficulty. The United Kingdom really does not have a very good cuisine (sorry chaps!), and does not have a concept of healthy food. It basically boils down to "lets take x, y and z and FRY IT!" :P
Last edited by Yakoob; 2nd Jul 2012 at 16:48.
It's interesting there's a lot of exercises in these intense routines that were cut from official and education programs (here) years ago because people regularly fuck up their backs doing them (burpees, clapping pushups etc)
I wonder if they've had a bit of a rethink.
I don't think so. Any high-impact exercise is going to wreak havoc on your skeleton (your spine especially), but the point of these workouts is to 'get results fast,' not 'ensure you don't have crippling arthritis in your old age.'
Endoskeletons are meant for living in water. Evolution just figured a way to make them work with a failure rate low enough to keep animals that have them from going extinct.
Yeah s'pose. Still skeletal stress is having a bit of a comeback, particularly load bearing exercise, as a way of preventing osteo arthritis in old age, or so I hear.
I guess the main reason these sorts of things were cut in the first place is that they're easy to over do or do wrong, so they just removed them altogether. Many might be ok if you know what you're doing. Their appearance in these individual DIY, "get fit fast" programs might mean people want to get a bit of guidance.
It's true that our affordable restaurant cuisine tends to be on the fatty side, this is why I cook my own food. It's an indispensable life skill.
Plus, potential romantic interests tend to react well to having a nice dinner prepared for them.
That I can vouch for
Also, bizarrely, after being in a lab all day running experiments, my preferred method of relaxing when I get home is to cook, despite it being more or less identical to running experiments.
I'd liken my cooking to a clinical trial. I even make the participants sign a waiver.
A bit more than week ago I listened to a presentation of this guy who trained a couple of Bavarian (sorry, Frankish) sport students in a gladiator experiment done by the university of Regensburg. The last six or so weeks were spent in an archaeological park in Austria where they trained literally all day long (basic strength endurance, basic martial arts and their specific gladiator-type weaponry), starting at 5.30 in the morning. To make things more authentic they just ate Roman stuff like puls, a porridge based on barley or millet plus white beans and a bit of other stuff since ancient Gladiators were described as barley eaters. They soon noticed that despite the intense training they didn't suffer (much) from muscle soreness and became more alert in general (of course they soon started sleeping during their training pauses during the day).
After the experiment the trainer did some research and noticed that the food was basically alkali-producing (you know, this renal physiology thing, faetal can probably explain it better). So he got the idea that the food was not only better for the body in general (less acid stress for the renals) but also partly compensated the lactic acid produced in the muscles. Well, I have no idea if there is any connection to that, but anyway the food supported the training instead of being an obstacle. Only once they ate meat brought from the local mayor and were all sick the morning afterwards. And these porridges are easy to make, variegate, satisfying and cheaper even if you buy all the ingredients from expensive wholefood shops (at least in Germany, don't know if these things exist notably everywhere else). I've tried it last week and it wasn't bad, however I haven't started any longtime study yet since I was busy in Berlin over the weekend. But I'll keep trying it out and see what happens.
Did they have a control group?
If not, it doesn't really qualify as an experiment.
I don't know a great deal about kidney metabolism, but I'd be surprised if it affected lactic acid build up in the muscles, since that is to do with oxygen debt switching on anaerobic respiration, which releases energy from monosaccharides by partially processing them, creating a build up of lactate until there is enough available oxygen to process the lactate fully, thus clearing it from the muscles.
It looks like acidaemia increases breathing rate and alkalaemia decreases it, due to expulsion of CO2 via the lungs being the quickest way to free up carbonate buffer in the blood, making it available for buffering against low pH, so if anything, a higher pH would decrease the rate of breathing, which would create more oxygen debt in the muscles, leading to greater lactate build up I'd have though, but I'm no physiologist.
If I had to take a wild swing in the dark, I'd say that the food they were eating was probably less processed than contemporary food and this contained a higher ratio of complex nutrients, which take longer to digest and thus deliver a more steady glycaemic load. The net result of that being a drip feed of energy available throughout the period of exercise with lower and fewer insulin spikes, which are good for bursts of energy but not long-term endurance. But again, I am no physiologist.
Proper ossified endoskeletons are pretty much a terrestrial thing, though, and they work really well. Articular hyaline cartilage (joints etc), however, is necessarily avascular because of it's mechanical environment (being squeezed pretty much 24/7) and it's function (needs to be thin + tough). As it has no real blood supply, the bodies ability to repair joint cartilage is extremely limited. Most of the problems associated with exercise are down to cartilage abrasion due to abnormal loading. And once you damage your joint cartilage, you're pretty fucked. The rest of the skeleton self-repairs very well.
SCIENCE all up in here.
Oh. Well, that makes sense. So... start from chart 1 at level D, then 1C, etc.? I might have a look for those modern versions you speak of.
I've used tables/desks before, if there's room to stick your legs underneath them. Just requires a palms-forward grip, but that's good for you anyway
I have something similar to THIS. No need for screws etc, just rests on a door frame.
If you're out of options, put a bath towel on top of a door (to avoid splinters & to prevent it from closing) and use that for pull-ups. Works surprisingly well, just test the stability of your doors beforehand
Fitness demystified:
To lose weight, reign in what you eat. Seriously, it's that simple. Count calories for awhile to gain some awareness as to what you're putting in your body. The goal isn't to totally strip out the gluttonous things you love to eat, but instead to give you the ability to make informed decisions. And yes, weight loss is far more complicated than calories--thirty calories of chocolate isn't the same as thirty calories of carrots, for example--but focusing on calories at least gives you a loose way to break data down and discover where that weight is coming from. It ain't perfect, but it's close enough to work with.
Exercise is good, but if weight loss is the goal then stop stuffing that fat face; it's easier to not eat that pie than it is to work it off. That being said, exercise benefits your body in countless ways, so it's always a good idea (especially as there is obviously more to fitness than weight management). Engage in a cardio activity at least several times a week. At least some weight training is good, too, and if you don't have the gear you can always do pull ups and push ups and the like. In fact, you should do these regardless as they're good for you.
Perhaps most important, though, is this: don't go on diets, don't do crazy-ass two week workouts, don't do any drastic shit in an attempt to fit into that speedo for that August Cancun trip. Make life changes that you can keep up; fitness shouldn't be seen as a temporary measure. Find healthy food that you like to eat and exercise activities that you like to do, but then also include unhealthy food (in moderation) and sitting on your ass (in moderation). It's all about balance.
And know that you're probably never going to have the body of an underwear model, and that's fine--that shit takes a ton of work and odds are good genetics didn't deal you the hand that makes such things realistically attainable. Just focus on you, as fitness is a competition you're having only with yourself.
This brings up another important point: always pay attention to your form and for the love of god listen to your body. If something feels wrong it probably is.
Agreed for the most part, but once you get a bit older, like in my case 40 something, eating well will only go so far. Sure you can maintain, but to lose weight, you're going to need to exercise in some form. Unless you're stretching yourself way too thin on food and/or starving yourself.
As with anything, it's usually about balance. Cut back a bit on portions, AND walk/run 2-3 times per week.
Fitness != weight loss. Reining in what you eat does not train strength or improve cardio-vascular fitness, nor does it confer the relief from stress and depression that exercise provides. Neither diet or exercise can supplant each other in terms of fitness and health, they are complimentary endeavours.To lose weight, reign in what you eat. Seriously, it's that simple...
Also a good activity to engage in: reading.
At least not for a food-related experiment, but that's not what they did. The martial arts instructor was a bit upset that they didn't even weigh the guys during the training. The food was only introduced to make it a bit more authentic, but honestly I've forgotten what this whole thing was about in the first place. What's important is that the young men shifted notably towards the athletic ideal and that the archaeology park earned a lot thanks to the "gladiator show" they did in the afternoon (originally it was the ordinary training but they adapted to the audience). They earned so much in fact that they're likely to finance this a second time. Seems attractive when you think that people would even pay for being worked like that.
Whoops, sorry.
No worries.
The importance of exercise can't be understated--especially in a thread titled "what are you doing to not get a heart attack?"--but I listed weight loss advice first because it is the one areas of fitness that seems to contain the most public misconceptions.
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