The Official Health and Fitness Thread

[Trolloc]

I've just cut all pop out - I'm just drinking water...  A lot of water.

Pop is one of my weaknesses...but it is horrible for you. One can of pop contains more sugar than your body can handle...also I found drinking pop made my cardio disappear quicker.

 

[TheMightyOdin]

I had trouble with the pops too. I was at the point where I didn't even think they tasted good but I was craving them. They were definitely having a measurable chemical reaction on my mind and body. If I remember right it took me about 3 weeks of no pop at all before I started feeling like I didn't need one.

The hardest thing for me to cut out or cut back on is cheese. You can put it on and in just about everything. I've found a few pretty good light cheese alternatives but they really don't compare to the real stuff.

 

[Rick C.]

I lost 5lbs over the Christmas/New Years timeframe.  I'm very happy with that!
www.150Reasons.com

 

[4th Liner]

I lost 5lbs over the Christmas/New Years timeframe.  I'm very happy with that!
www.150Reasons.com

Now that is impressive - good job, Rick! A great start to the year.

 

[Bender]

I've decided to finally swallow the pill and sign up for a gym. I wasn't exercising at all at home even though I have a few free weights to keep me going. I'm the type of person that needs to be in a designated place to do anything. In university I could only study at the library for example, I'd goof off at home.

I'm not really sure how much I gained over the holidays but I can tell my pants are a bit tighter and that set off a warning shot. I'm going to be easing myself into the gym, but I definitely want to start trimming fat and building muscle. My body is pretty balanced in weight distribution but I've got scrawny arms which annoys me and that's probably the only thing I'm afraid of - that I won't be able to get my arms to fill out like the rest of my body.

I guess I'll just got hard on curls? Anyone have any tips?

 

[TheMightyOdin]

I've got lots of tips, tricks and schemes bender.

For me personally I don't work out my arms very much.  They are big enough and get worked out with the pushing and pulling of chest and back exercises. Guns are nice but you can really change your body working your legs, chest and back, they are the biggest muscles in your body.

 

[Corn Flake]

Bender, I can probably lend some tips as well. I spent the last 13 months working with a personal trainer, trying to go from relatively scronny (excluding the "softness" I had built up over the years) to something less than scronny and its worked pretty well so far. 

Like Odin says, you work the arms a lot doing chest, shoulders and back workouts.  In the last year with this trainer we never focused directly on biceps.  And even while doing no direct work on biceps, I doubled the weight I could curl over that time. 

What I normally do now is at the end of a full chest or shoulder workout I do 3 sets of 10 focused on biceps.  Never do them first or you won't be able to do much else the rest of the workout. 

If you want some sample workouts, I could send you some stuff. 

 

[Jalili]

I've decided to finally swallow the pill and sign up for a gym. I wasn't exercising at all at home even though I have a few free weights to keep me going. I'm the type of person that needs to be in a designated place to do anything. In university I could only study at the library for example, I'd goof off at home.

I'm not really sure how much I gained over the holidays but I can tell my pants are a bit tighter and that set off a warning shot. I'm going to be easing myself into the gym, but I definitely want to start trimming fat and building muscle. My body is pretty balanced in weight distribution but I've got scrawny arms which annoys me and that's probably the only thing I'm afraid of - that I won't be able to get my arms to fill out like the rest of my body.

I guess I'll just got hard on curls? Anyone have any tips?

Try the Farmer's walk. You will have shredded forearms and an iron grip after a few weeks. You'll also be hitting your shoulders, legs & back as well.

Don't spend too much time on the isolation exercises like curls.

 

[Bender]

Bender, I can probably lend some tips as well. I spent the last 13 months working with a personal trainer, trying to go from relatively scronny (excluding the "softness" I had built up over the years) to something less than scronny and its worked pretty well so far. 

Like Odin says, you work the arms a lot doing chest, shoulders and back workouts.  In the last year with this trainer we never focused directly on biceps.  And even while doing no direct work on biceps, I doubled the weight I could curl over that time. 

What I normally do now is at the end of a full chest or shoulder workout I do 3 sets of 10 focused on biceps.  Never do them first or you won't be able to do much else the rest of the workout. 

If you want some sample workouts, I could send you some stuff.

Sure! Send away!

 

[Bender]

I think I'm going to start a little bit slower for now. I know it's a lot better to do free weights as it works many, many more muscle groups, but I want to get a half decent base before I go on the weights. Right now I'm doing a half hour of stationary bike and half hour of targeted muscle group. Did quad lifts, leg curls and leg presses. Kinda sad that a half hour on the bike only produced 245 calories burned according to the machine, I don't want to become a gym rat in order to look half decent.

 

[Rick C.]

I ate lean and clean today... And I got to the gym twice.  First in the afternoon I did fast walking on the treadmill for an hour. Then this evening I went back for another 30 mins.

 

[McPwnage]

don't overwork it rick, the best way to do it too my knowledge is to rip the muscles and then wait a day for them to heal and strengthen

 

[Bender]

don't overwork it rick, the best way to do it too my knowledge is to rip the muscles and then wait a day for them to heal and strengthen

At the same time if you can handle the extra 30mins of cardio then why not? I think it all depends on how much you think your body can handle, no?

 

[TheMightyOdin]

don't overwork it rick, the best way to do it too my knowledge is to rip the muscles and then wait a day for them to heal and strengthen

At the same time if you can handle the extra 30mins of cardio then why not? I think it all depends on how much you think your body can handle, no?

The tearing of lean muscle mass is done through weight bearing exercises done to failure. Any muscles I work this way are rested for at least 3 days so they can repair/strengthen.

Light to moderate cardio can be done multiple days in succession and even more than once a day as long as your eating enough and your heart is healthy. I wouldn't advocate Rick doing a crazy 1 hour kick boxing class 2 days in a row... but walking, riding a bike or some elliptical work should be all good.

I would mix it up a bit though. Treadmill one workout, stationary bike the next, etc..  Or divide your cardio time between machines evenly for 1 workout. For example : if you are doing 60 minutes of cardio do 20min walking, 20 min riding, 20 elliptical. Then the following day you could do the same thing but switch the order.

If you your muscles are sore then I would suggest rest but that doesn't mean you have to do nothing. You can go to the gym and do the same exercises that made your muscles sore but do them without weight or intensity. The idea being that you aren't working the muscle but just using it in the motion that it is sore. This sends blood through that muscle which helps to flush out the lactic acid which has built up there. This will help temporarily relieve the soreness and helps to speed up recovery.

As always listen to your body and take a full day off when you need to.

 

[Corn Flake]

don't overwork it rick, the best way to do it too my knowledge is to rip the muscles and then wait a day for them to heal and strengthen

At the same time if you can handle the extra 30mins of cardio then why not? I think it all depends on how much you think your body can handle, no?

Wear yourself right out.  If you leave a workout not feeling like you've used every bit of energy you had then you haven't done enough.  I mean what is the point of going through the whole effort of a workout and the time it takes to not maximize your results?

Careful with weights though... better to do more sets with less weight to start to avoid a serious injury.  I also suggest starting out on machines vs. free weights to get a feel for what you can handle.  But get off machines as soon as you can.  Free weights work a lot more.

 

[Tigger]

I have to start making changes now, but it has nothing to do with resolutions. I just found out I have high cholesterol. I'm 33 and eat a fairly good diet. I'm going to have to take a very close look at my diet to figure out what I can improve.

I had to start really watching my salt intake last year, blood pressure was high consistently for too long, one of the first things that floored me was that a can of tuna had pretty much my daily intake.

When you open a can of tuna open it so that the lid is not completely off. Drain it, peel the lid up, fill it with water, put the lid back down, drain it again.

If you do that 2 or 3 times its supposed to remove over 90% of the salt. Just use a fork to peel the lid up so you don't accidentally cut yourself.

I really appreciate the suggestion and maybe I'll give it a shot at some point but I decided to go as fresh as possible to have better control over my salt intake, hard to go back now, I really like it. This little kernel of knowledge will stick with me though in case I'm stuck at the cottage or some such, thanks!

 

[TheMightyOdin]

I have to start making changes now, but it has nothing to do with resolutions. I just found out I have high cholesterol. I'm 33 and eat a fairly good diet. I'm going to have to take a very close look at my diet to figure out what I can improve.

I had to start really watching my salt intake last year, blood pressure was high consistently for too long, one of the first things that floored me was that a can of tuna had pretty much my daily intake.

When you open a can of tuna open it so that the lid is not completely off. Drain it, peel the lid up, fill it with water, put the lid back down, drain it again.

If you do that 2 or 3 times its supposed to remove over 90% of the salt. Just use a fork to peel the lid up so you don't accidentally cut yourself.

I really appreciate the suggestion and maybe I'll give it a shot at some point but I decided to go as fresh as possible to have better control over my salt intake, hard to go back now, I really like it. This little kernel of knowledge will stick with me though in case I'm stuck at the cottage or some such, thanks!

No problem and yes fresh is definitely the better choice.

 

[Bender]

I have to start making changes now, but it has nothing to do with resolutions. I just found out I have high cholesterol. I'm 33 and eat a fairly good diet. I'm going to have to take a very close look at my diet to figure out what I can improve.

I had to start really watching my salt intake last year, blood pressure was high consistently for too long, one of the first things that floored me was that a can of tuna had pretty much my daily intake.

When you open a can of tuna open it so that the lid is not completely off. Drain it, peel the lid up, fill it with water, put the lid back down, drain it again.

If you do that 2 or 3 times its supposed to remove over 90% of the salt. Just use a fork to peel the lid up so you don't accidentally cut yourself.

I really appreciate the suggestion and maybe I'll give it a shot at some point but I decided to go as fresh as possible to have better control over my salt intake, hard to go back now, I really like it. This little kernel of knowledge will stick with me though in case I'm stuck at the cottage or some such, thanks!

No problem and yes fresh is definitely the better choice.

I find going fresh to be somewhat difficult. I always try to cook, but not every meal is loaded with leafy greens and veggies. I find I make a lot of stews and one pot meals in order to just plop it in a container and go to work. I really gotta get off eating pasta and rice though. I'm thinking of doing a more or less straight protein/veggies diet without too many carbs (paleo diet?)

 

[Bullfrog]

Tonnes of carbs in veggies! 2/3 of your meal should be carbs, but ones of a low-glycemic index. (i.e. no white bread, rice, etc.)

 

[maplesyrup]

I attended a 5 hour extreme makeover seminar today... No, not that kind of extreme makeover but a health/fitness/wellness one... MIND BLOWN! Folks, I can go on forever about a wide variety of things bit a few things I just must share.

1. Cut as much sugar out of your diet as you can. 100% is impossible but almost all of it. - Not just a little. Seriously - Almost all of it. Don't replace it with aspartame either. Really, sugar is a killer... I mean it... Sugar will bury you as quickly as smoking can. 

2. This "organic" thing really isn't conspiracy to get us to spend more on produce. Make a switch as best you can. Again, it doesn't need to be completely or all at once... Just do the best you can.

3. There is a long list of household things that are bad (really bad) but I urge everyone to immediately throw away their Teflon cookware. - It's absolutely toxic. In fact, did you know that Teflon has actually been banned (effective 2015.) It is only the big business lobby that convinced the government to implement the ban so far from now so the manufactures can get rid of inventory. - Scary, eh?

Also, you may want to throw away your dryer sheets immediately too if you use them.

4. Burst/Spurt Surge training. - Dead easy. 10-12 minutes per day, 3 times per week. No more. So much better than hitting the treadmill/pavement for hours per week... Look into it... Anyone interested, I will explain but I don't want to bore people if they aren't interested - Just let me know.

I could easily have a list 100 items long but like I said, these ones stood out. Good health everyone!