I'm 2nd fattest: new HEALTH and FITNESS

[elpollodiablo]

My plan for healthy living while on the road is starting with a double vodka tonic in the airport bar at 9am

[Ignatius]

It's ok, buddy - airport doesn't have time. If the bar is open at 9 AM, there must be a reason.

[Trousers and Pat]

I just made some cream cheese frosting that could kill a man

[theartlessmonster]

you know now in the future you ever happen to be accused of killing a man with cheese this post is going to be very damning evidence. 

[jebreject]

I just made some cream cheese frosting that could kill a man

Keep it in the food thread!

[elpollodiablo]

Jeb how's it going man? You wanna be my MyFitnessPal BFF?

[milly balgeary]

Me too. add millybalgeary

[jebreject]

Really good! I've definitely been eating less and paying more attention to what I eat. I did kind of eat like shit tonight, but I also got in a LOT of cardio.

My username is jebreject

[milly balgeary]

Here's some info I found interesting.


What 30 reps does is train your glycolytic energy system. As I said in an early post, the glycolysis is what allows a fast 100 meter sprinter to win at 400 meters. Essentially, it’s the system that uses glycogen and oxygen to recharge your body’s anaerobic (Kreb’s Cycle) system. I ran the quarter and we used to refer to something we called The Bear. The Bear lived in the “block house” (housed the track equipment) that was located at the last turn of the track. In the 400, The Bear attacked at the last turn and slowed you down. Unless, that is, your glycolytic system was firing on all cylinders. Then you’d kick home, passing a bunch of guys who looked like they suddenly had a bear on their backs because their anaerobic system was finished at 300 meters (about as long as you can hold your breath while sprinting) and their glycolytic wasn’t trained well enough to keep their fast-twitch muscles firing.

But life isn’t the quarter so why train this? Essentially because it’s another energy system and the more efficient your body is that better it will work in life. It will allow more progress during your other training, no matter what it is, that leads to better results long term.

During 30 reps sets you can actually feel your system load change. The weight you use may seem impossibly light during the first 6-10 reps. Around 15 (or less later in the workout) you’ll start feeling it. At 20, the point where most traditional weight exercises end and about as long as your can reasonably hold your breath under duress, you’re muscles will begin to give out as you change systems. From then on it’s a fight to the finish (providing you’ve used enough weight which takes a little practice). If you do these sets correctly you’ll be dying (in my case screaming) to get your last five reps done.

I may give this a shot. Apparently you want to do it in a 3 week block or so because it's so exhausting. Sounds fun.

[Bernard]

I'm already dying by 20!

[milly balgeary]

I don't usually get that far! But it sounds extremely beneficial.

There are two very important techniques to adhere to. First is form. Reps should not be rushed and form should remain perfect throughout the set. If your form falters you should stop. There is no benefit to finishing a set with bad form, and anytime you do you risk injury.

Secondly you need to breathe, perhaps both loudly and exaggeratedly. Deep rhythmic breathing is the key to every single set. Remember that you are working on an oxygen based system. The more oxygen your force into your system the better chance you are have of finishing. This seems silly when you hoisting five pound weights because you could do this easily, with no focus at all, in the beginning. But if you don’t breathe early in the set it will catch up to you and you’ll fail near the end. When you nail your breathing it makes the transition between creatine phosphate and glycolytic systems smooth. The sets then get easier and more resistance can be added on your next set.

[dumbfish]

The form bit is super important.
Mixing this stuff in with heavier stuff is where it's at. Too much light and it's solely cardio calisthenics. Too much heavy and it's mass (and very likely imminent injury) with no fitness.

[Bernard]

My form often gets a little wobblier at the end, there's just no way the last rep is going to look identical to the first, but I do focus on things like keeping my core engaged, keeping my joints where they should be, focusing on pulling from where I should be (like keeping my shoulders out of my ears and relaxing my neck, or keeping my weight back and pushing through my heels).

Breathing is such a hard one for me. I make spectacular gym faces/noises but it's incredibly hard not to hold my breath when lifting heavy, followed by panting to catch up. I know it's bad. I'm very slowly getting a tiny bit better at it as I get stronger.

I think that's the other thing to bear in mind with a lot of this stuff -- it was a lot harder for me to do stuff like keep good form with free weights when I was first strong enough to move off the machines, because I wasn't used to keeping track of so many things at once. I had to go down the checklist with every rep. As you get both stronger and more familiar with the movement, it gets easier.

And then the trainer makes you do something slightly different, ha.

[milly balgeary]

The form bit is super important.
Mixing this stuff in with heavier stuff is where it's at. Too much light and it's solely cardio calisthenics. Too much heavy and it's mass (and very likely imminent injury) with no fitness.

This particular specific stuff is about training muscular endurance, to help improve your game in all areas. I guess you'd do this for 3 weeks or so, before transitioning back to regular exercise. It's supposed to train your glyocoltyic system.

[milly balgeary]

My form often gets a little wobblier at the end, there's just no way the last rep is going to look identical to the first, but I do focus on things like keeping my core engaged, keeping my joints where they should be, focusing on pulling from where I should be (like keeping my shoulders out of my ears and relaxing my neck, or keeping my weight back and pushing through my heels).

Breathing is such a hard one for me. I make spectacular gym faces/noises but it's incredibly hard not to hold my breath when lifting heavy, followed by panting to catch up. I know it's bad. I'm very slowly getting a tiny bit better at it as I get stronger.

I think that's the other thing to bear in mind with a lot of this stuff -- it was a lot harder for me to do stuff like keep good form with free weights when I was first strong enough to move off the machines, because I wasn't used to keeping track of so many things at once. I had to go down the checklist with every rep. As you get both stronger and more familiar with the movement, it gets easier.

And then the trainer makes you do something slightly different, ha.

I have heinous form somedays, and fine form other days. I don't do any benching or anything though. I don't know what my problem is, but a lot of stuff I do is balance moves and sometimes my body just won't work right.

Had a particularly bad experience tonight. I went for a run and totally bonked out. I even ate 2 bananas right before it and one of those GU gels, but ... I had to roll it in and come home.

Which is fine, cause I bought 5 tickets for the big jackpot, and when I win, I'll pay someone to jog for me.

[elpollodiablo]

I like this sharing thing! I ate like a total fatass today and everytime I logged it made me ashamed

[elpollodiablo]

Although I guess it's somewhat heartening to see that if I ate like a total drunken fatass everyday for the next five weeks I'd still weigh 20lbs less than I did in January 

[milly balgeary]

I think I'm gonna try to stop eating meat again. I don't really eat a lot of it, so other than an occasional cheeseburger while out, I wouldn't even miss it. I do love yogurt though. Noosa australian yoghurt is the BEST thing.

[distance]

ran a 10k today.  went reasonably well.  got passed by a lot of people much older and much younger.
1:15.  ok enough i guess.
my leg is not very happy right now, though.

[jebreject]

I ate like CRAP today. That's okay to do every once in a while, right?

... right?

[jebreject]

I think I'm gonna try to stop eating meat again. I don't really eat a lot of it, so other than an occasional cheeseburger while out, I wouldn't even miss it. I do love yogurt though. Noosa australian yoghurt is the BEST thing.

Do it!

I really want to cut way down on dairy. Ideally, I would really like to go vegan but if I'm being realistic I don't think that is ever going to happen.

[elpollodiablo]

I think I'm gonna try to stop eating meat again. I don't really eat a lot of it, so other than an occasional cheeseburger while out, I wouldn't even miss it. I do love yogurt though. Noosa australian yoghurt is the BEST thing.

Do it!

I really want to cut way down on dairy. Ideally, I would really like to go vegan but if I'm being realistic I don't think that is ever going to happen.

I could also do this, I think, though I'd need to think seriously about what would replace that part of my meals that currently seems most satisfying. I hardly ever eat red meat these days, but chicken breast is a huge part of my protein intake.

My dairy intake is almost zero at this point, though.

[elpollodiablo]

I ate like CRAP today. That's okay to do every once in a while, right?

... right?

Yeah man something to consider is what your week looks like, not just the day to day. Some people plan for a cheat day, but I'm not quite there yet. If I go way over I just try to make up for it with judicious moderation for the next couple days and generally it ends up working out.

[milly balgeary]

I think I'm gonna try to stop eating meat again. I don't really eat a lot of it, so other than an occasional cheeseburger while out, I wouldn't even miss it. I do love yogurt though. Noosa australian yoghurt is the BEST thing.

Do it!

I really want to cut way down on dairy. Ideally, I would really like to go vegan but if I'm being realistic I don't think that is ever going to happen.

Do you drink a lot of milk?

[milly balgeary]

I ate like CRAP today. That's okay to do every once in a while, right?

... right?

I think it's all in how you recover. You ate like crap, no big deal, you get back in the saddle. It's when you keep eating like crap, and just accept it, that's the problem!