Health, Good Practises, and Exercise

[SandboxGeneral]

As a side note, I wonder how much stress, an elliptical (due to motion of your legs) puts on your knees as compared to swimming?

Certainly there is some stress on the limbs and knees when using an elliptical, but, as you know, the brute impact of feet hitting the ground with all your body weight on them is missing altogether.

When I use an elliptical I don't have any knee pain associated with the exercise as compared to when I go for a run, outside or on a treadmill. I don't really run anymore since I left the Marines and will only go for brisk walks outside or on a treadmill.

Swimming is great for the non-impact aspect as well as it is a very good all-body workout too.

 

[Huntn]

Certainly there is some stress on the limbs and knees when using an elliptical, but, as you know, the brute impact of feet hitting the ground with all your body weight on them is missing altogether.

When I use an elliptical I don't have any knee pain associated with the exercise as compared to when I go for a run, outside or on a treadmill. I don't really run anymore since I left the Marines and will only go for brisk walks outside or on a treadmill.

Swimming is great for the non-impact aspect as well as it is a very good all-body workout too.

I know with swimming, I'm building muscle, watching the gut and man boobs go down a bit, estimate I've lost 5 pounds. Damn, I've should have taken a before picture, but would never show it here, lol.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

The new Fitbit Aria smart scale I ordered on Monday came today. Setup was easy and only took a couple of minutes. Previous to this I used an ordinary bathroom scale and cheap plastic body fat calipers I got as a free gift with the purchase of a certain dollar amount at bodybuilding.com. Currently I'm at 179.8 lbs and using the cheap calipers I had skeptically calculated my body fat percentage at 10%. The Aria scale gave me a much more believable and realistic percentage of 17% body fat. Considering the fat still around my mid-section, 17% seems about right.

My goal is to get to 8% to 10% body fat and about 183 lbs. That's going to take me the better part of a year or more to achieve with a moderately aggressive fitness and nutrition plan. But I've already lost 45 pounds since last July and I'm well on my way to my fitness goals.

Also I just upgraded from the Fitbit Charge HR, which is a great device, to the Fitbit Surge. The Surge is very cool too and even more comfortable yet. I have to say that the Fitbit line of products and their tracking of exercise and nutrition is top notch and it helps keep me on track.

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather coming so I can get outdoors and be more active which will be in addition to my daily gym routine.

 

[Huntn]

The new Fitbit Aria smart scale I ordered on Monday came today. Setup was easy and only took a couple of minutes. Previous to this I used an ordinary bathroom scale and cheap plastic body fat calipers I got as a free gift with the purchase of a certain dollar amount at bodybuilding.com. Currently I'm at 179.8 lbs and using the cheap calipers I had skeptically calculated my body fat percentage at 10%. The Aria scale gave me a much more believable and realistic percentage of 17% body fat. Considering the fat still around my mid-section, 17% seems about right.

My goal is to get to 8% to 10% body fat and about 183 lbs. That's going to take me the better part of a year or more to achieve with a moderately aggressive fitness and nutrition plan. But I've already lost 45 pounds since last July and I'm well on my way to my fitness goals.

Also I just upgraded from the Fitbit Charge HR, which is a great device, to the Fitbit Surge. The Surge is very cool too and even more comfortable yet. I have to say that the Fitbit line of products and their tracking of exercise and nutrition is top notch and it helps keep me on track.

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather coming so I can get outdoors and be more active which will be in addition to my daily gym routine.

Bravo dude!

 

[JamesMike]

Certainly there is some stress on the limbs and knees when using an elliptical, but, as you know, the brute impact of feet hitting the ground with all your body weight on them is missing altogether.

When I use an elliptical I don't have any knee pain associated with the exercise as compared to when I go for a run, outside or on a treadmill. I don't really run anymore since I left the Marines and will only go for brisk walks outside or on a treadmill.

Swimming is great for the non-impact aspect as well as it is a very good all-body workout too.

There is one other added benefit to swimming on a regular basis, if you are involved in a water-borne accident you have the ability to rescue yourself or someone else.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

This past week I've changed my workout strategy. For a while I was doing low weight, higher reps at the gym. Some people swear by it and get results. It seems I'm not one of them and barely noticed any gains at all. Now I'm going back to lifting heavy and aiming for lower reps going to failure. In the past that is where I saw the best gains and it's how most bodybuilders get their gains too.

I don't go too heavy too fast and play it safe because I don't want any injuries. So this week I stepped up my deadlifts to 245 lbs for reps keeping proper form the most important aspect of the exercise.

Also, I've been in a caloric deficit sine July 2015 and I'm at 179 lbs. The Fitbit Aria smart scale says I have 18% body fat and about 148 lbs of lean body mass. That helped me make the decision to go heavier on the weights and to change from calorie deficits to eating to maintain/gain weight. This should, I hope, help me put on more lean muscle mass and help burn off the rest of my belly fat over the course of the year or so.

 

[Huntn]

This past week I've changed my workout strategy. For a while I was doing low weight, higher reps at the gym. Some people swear by it and get results. It seems I'm not one of them and barely noticed any gains at all. Now I'm going back to lifting heavy and aiming for lower reps going to failure. In the past that is where I saw the best gains and it's how most bodybuilders get their gains too.

I don't go too heavy too fast and play it safe because I don't want any injuries. So this week I stepped up my deadlifts to 245 lbs for reps keeping proper form the most important aspect of the exercise.

Also, I've been in a caloric deficit sine July 2015 and I'm at 179 lbs. The Fitbit Aria smart scale says I have 18% body fat and about 148 lbs of lean body mass. That helped me make the decision to go heavier on the weights and to change from calorie deficits to eating to maintain/gain weight. This should, I hope, help me put on more lean muscle mass and help burn off the rest of my belly fat over the course of the year or so.

View attachment 625321

It's a lifestyle. For myself, I've never been enamored with heavy weights, preferring light weight workouts, when I did them. How tall are you? I'm envious on that weight, although if I had a target, it would be 180. That put's me 35 over. The other day I did feel relatively good (about my shape) when I ran into a guy at the Y who weighed 270ish and he told me he had lost 40 lbs.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

It's a lifestyle. For myself, I've never been enamored with heavy weights, preferring light weight workouts, when I did them. How tall are you? I'm envious on that weight, although if I had a target, it would be 180. That put's me 35 over. The other day I did feel relatively good (about my shape) when I ran into a guy at the Y who weighed 270ish and he told me he had lost 40 lbs.

I'm 6'0".

It's all about a person's goals and what their body is capable of doing with regards to injuries, range of movement etc.. For me, I want more muscle mass and less body fat. I'm by no means trying to be a mass freak like the top bodybuilders today, but I want to look defined and healthy. It's a long journey and as long as I keep at it with the good eating and exercise, I'll realize that goal in due time.

 

[997440]

Certainly there is some stress on the limbs and knees when using an elliptical, but, as you know, the brute impact of feet hitting the ground with all your body weight on them is missing altogether.
.....

Just a quick mention -- The science isn't complete on this yet but doing some high-impact exercise has tangible, positive results for bone growth, or at the least, in lessening mass loss. It's currently thought that the amount and quantity of force to achieve growth is out of reach for many. But, if possible, even hopping in place can be good for bones.

This article appeared in the March 9, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Bones should be jarred, for their own good. Past experiments have definitively established that subjecting bones to abrupt stress prompts them to add mass or at least reduces their loss of mass as people age. What has been in dispute, however, is how much force is needed to stimulate bone — and how to apply that force in daily life.
.....
So, Dr. Tobias says, young people and healthy adults should probably pound the ground, at least sometimes. Sprint. Jump off a box 15 inches or higher at your gym and jump back up. Hop in place. A study by other researchers published in January found that women between 25 and 50 who hopped at least 10 times twice a day, with 30 seconds between each hop, significantly increased their hipbone density after four months. Another group of subjects, who hopped 20 times daily, showed even greater gains.
.....

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/why-high-impact-exercise-is-good-for-your-bones/

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Just a quick mention -- The science isn't complete on this yet but doing some high-impact exercise has tangible, positive results for bone growth, or at the least, in lessening mass loss. It's currently thought that the amount and quantity of force to achieve growth is out of reach for many. But, if possible, even hopping in place can be good for bones.


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/why-high-impact-exercise-is-good-for-your-bones/

Yep. Reminds me of why astronauts lose bone mass when they're in orbit for extended periods of time.

 

[Cnasty]

I seem to be on this roller coaster of doing excellent for a month and then tapering off back to bad habits. I am 6'3 215 and have a dad bod if you will but looking to tone up. I have done MyFitnessPal with excellent results and then get lazy and go back to bad eating habits. I use to run 21 miles a week and now havent run in about 3 weeks.

I just go through these phases and it is something I havent ever figured out in my life time so hoping to read some motivation in here and get a consistent process.

A big factor, or excuse, depending on how you look at it. I have a 3 year old and a 4 month old. My free time without a kid or wife present is non-existent and its usually at 9 or 10 at night and I am exhausted by then.

I need to stay consistent!!!!

 

[SandboxGeneral]

I need to stay consistent!!!!

That's probably the toughest battle we all face.

I read somewhere once that if we can establish a pattern of doing something for at least 60 days, then it becomes routine and easy to keep up with. But that still means we have to keep at it.

For me, I now go to the gym at 5 am and get my workouts done early, then come back home, get cleaned up, eat and then head to work. I'm finding this pattern easier for me than when I used to go to the gym after work.

For motivation to keep going I track all my nutrition into the Fitbit app and log all my exercises in the bodybuilding.com app Bodyspace. Then I can see my progress as I go along and make adjustments when needed. Plus being on the bodybuilding.com forum helps motivate me by seeing other fitness minded folks who help encourage others to get in or stay in shape. I also follow fitness related people on Instagram and Twitter as well.

The biggest thing is that you just have to want it no matter what and make no excuses. If I'm not feeling it on a particular day I go to the gym anyway because its the right thing to do. Then by the end of the session I feel better and was glad I didn't stay in bed.

If you can carve out a time in your day to exercise and keep it consistent, you have a great chance at success.

 

[Cnasty]

That's probably the toughest battle we all face.

I read somewhere once that if we can establish a pattern of doing something for at least 60 days, then it becomes routine and easy to keep up with. But that still means we have to keep at it.

For me, I now go to the gym at 5 am and get my workouts done early, then come back home, get cleaned up, eat and then head to work. I'm finding this pattern easier for me than when I used to go to the gym after work.

For motivation to keep going I track all my nutrition into the Fitbit app and log all my exercises in the bodybuilding.com app Bodyspace. Then I can see my progress as I go along and make adjustments when needed. Plus being on the bodybuilding.com forum helps motivate me by seeing other fitness minded folks who help encourage others to get in or stay in shape. I also follow fitness related people on Instagram and Twitter as well.

The biggest thing is that you just have to want it no matter what and make no excuses. If I'm not feeling it on a particular day I go to the gym anyway because its the right thing to do. Then by the end of the session I feel better and was glad I didn't stay in bed.

If you can carve out a time in your day to exercise and keep it consistent, you have a great chance at success.

Personal question but relevant. Do you have kids?

You are exactly right. I make excuses but they are actual reasons such as just being so exhausted. I wake up at 530 now due to the kids. Not sure I can wake up much earlier as I am also the family taxi to get them to school by 730.

I'd love to go the gym. Absolutely love it.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Personal question but relevant. Do you have kids?

You are exactly right. I make excuses but they are actual reasons such as just being so exhausted. I wake up at 530 now due to the kids. Not sure I can wake up much earlier as I am also the family taxi to get them to school by 730.

I'd love to go the gym. Absolutely love it.

Nope, no kids. That obviously allows me more time for fitness compared to you and others. But it can be done. I follow Alisa on Instagram and she's a wife and mother and you can see what she accomplished in a year for the bodybuilding.com 250K challenge which just ended. https://www.instagram.com/asila.f/

 

[997440]

Personal question but relevant. Do you have kids?

You are exactly right. I make excuses but they are actual reasons such as just being so exhausted. I wake up at 530 now due to the kids. Not sure I can wake up much earlier as I am also the family taxi to get them to school by 730.

I'd love to go the gym. Absolutely love it.

Most of my life, I've never had time to go to a gym or there wasn't one readily accessible. You can set up some type of home gym. I would've never stuck to a regimen without music, occasionally books or podcasts, but mainly music. It always gets me through the tough times, including exhaustion and boredom.

You can do a substantive workout, whether resistance or cardio, in less than an hour, far less if necessary. You have to commit yourself and make it a necessity. You'll be a good example, a teacher, for your kids. They'll love you for it. : -)

 

[Cnasty]

Most of my life, I've never had time to go to a gym or there wasn't one readily accessible. You can set up some type of home gym. I would've never stuck to a regimen without music, occasionally books or podcasts, but mainly music. It always gets me through the tough times, including exhaustion and boredom.

You can do a substantive workout, whether resistance or cardio, in less than an hour, far less if necessary. You have to commit yourself and make it a necessity. You'll be a good example, a teacher, for your kids. They'll love you for it. : -)

This is great advice. I wanted to get an idea of an easy 30-45 minute full body work out that i can do at home and which materials to get to do 3-5 times a week.

I love running but can't get out there as much as I would like to so only on the weekends.

 

[zhenya]

This is great advice. I wanted to get an idea of an easy 30-45 minute full body work out that i can do at home and which materials to get to do 3-5 times a week.

I love running but can't get out there as much as I would like to so only on the weekends.

I have 3 kids under 5 at home, and manage to make time to run virtually every day. The great advantage of running is that you can do it virtually anywhere, and even 40 minutes gives you a pretty good workout and doesn't require much extra time on either end (such as driving to a gym). The majority of my friends I run with also have kids - in fact it seems that the stage of life right after you have them is when most of us take it up - so it's more than possible. You just have to make it a priority, and then it becomes a routine.

 

[997440]

This is great advice. I wanted to get an idea of an easy 30-45 minute full body work out that i can do at home and which materials to get to do 3-5 times a week.

I love running but can't get out there as much as I would like to so only on the weekends.

I have to run, so briefly on resistance -- you'll have to determine which tools to use. You can go with free weights, body weight, rubber tubes (etc) or a combination of all of the above. For cardio, add in a heavy bag.

Unless you have specific needs and/or you're an athlete, studies say that one set (8(?)-12 reps) is all that you need to get very good results. I've been doing it for a couple of years and at most, I've lost maybe five percent of my strength. I wish I had known of this years ago. With this in mind, you can easily accomplish your goal of 30-45 min sessions.

I don't have time to go over these to check for repetitiveness but here's some links on the subject of the effectiveness of one set :

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/expert-answers/strength-training/faq-20058232

http://www.unm.edu/~rrobergs/478Strength.pdf

http://www.cbass.com/NEWEVIDE.HTM

http://www.mikementzer.com/moreisbet.html

 

[xthine]

40 hours a week of sitting behind a computer indoors cannot be good so I make it a point to stand or walk every hour at work. I even have lunch standing up. I row a few times a week before work and on the weekends I hike 10 to 20 miles. Avoid red meat, sugar and artificial sweeteners, GMOs, processed food.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Unless you have specific needs and/or you're an athlete, studies say that one set (8(?)-12 reps) is all that you need to get very good results.

Yeah, it just depends on one's goals. Dorian Yates advocates for even lower reps than that for the working set. 8 to 12 reps are just a warm up set for him. For serious gains, a heavy set or two of 4 to 6 reps to failure (true failure and not mental failure) is where one will build muscle the quickest and that is where I see results for myself when I do that.

At the end of the day, all the studies and muscle mag articles don't mean much until a person puts something into practice and finds what works best for them. I know people who do high reps and get decent gains, and others who do low reps and get decent gains. Our physiology is so different and complex that there could never be a one size fits all approach to exercise.

 

[Huntn]

​

40 laps! ...but approx 2 hr time commitment. Not losing a ton of weight, but I am toning up. I assume I'm building muscle as I lose fat.

Yeah, it just depends on one's goals. Dorian Yates advocates for even lower reps than that for the working set. 8 to 12 reps are just a warm up set for him. For serious gains, a heavy set or two of 4 to 6 reps to failure (true failure and not mental failure) is where one will build muscle the quickest and that is where I see results for myself when I do that.

At the end of the day, all the studies and muscle mag articles don't mean much until a person puts something into practice and finds what works best for them. I know people who do high reps and get decent gains, and others who do low reps and get decent gains. Our physiology is so different and complex that there could never be a one size fits all approach to exercise.

Do you find that you have to take 48 hrs off between workouts? When I used to run (5 miles), I needed that long to recover. If I tried to do that every day, I would run down.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Do you find that you have to take 48 hrs off between workouts? When I used to run (5 miles), I needed that long to recover. If I tried to do that every day, I would run down.

My routine is this right now:

• Sunday: Delts (That's new this week. This used to be a rest day)
  
• Monday: Rest day
• Tuesday: Chest
• Wednesday: Back and traps
• Thursday: Rest day - though today I just decided to do chest again and threw in some squats
• Friday: Arms
• Saturday: Legs

I'm thinking about doing chest twice a week now, at least for a little while, because this is a weak area for me and I want to build it up. The pecs recover rather quickly so one can do them twice a week if desired. I also need to work on my squats as I've been avoiding them due to knee issues. But I'm taking them slowly and starting light, but I may do a few sets of them each day for a while as well.

The biggest key, IMO, is listening to your body so you don't run into over-training or injury. If I need a rest day, I take it and let the muscles recover and re-build. Usually its legs that need the most recovery time. I make sure I get plenty of calories, protein, an appropriate amount of carbs and good fats and sleep as well.

 

[Badagri]

Nope, no kids. That obviously allows me more time for fitness compared to you and others. But it can be done. I follow Alisa on Instagram and she's a wife and mother and you can see what she accomplished in a year for the bodybuilding.com 250K challenge which just ended. https://www.instagram.com/asila.f/

She looks like two different people. Honestly.

I never thought a woman with muscle could be sexy. Not crazy pumping muscles everywhere like female bodybuilders that have been at it most of their life.

She's like Linda Hamilton Terminator 2 physique, probably better than Linda.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Had a pretty good session at the gym today. Made some serious gains in deadlifts too. Warmed up with 10 reps of 225lbs on the first set; second set was 6 reps of 275lbs and finished it off with 4 reps of 315lbs. I haven't attempted that much weight in about 5 years and it felt good today.

Plus I've changed my overall plan based on champion bodybuilder Doug Brignole. I'm going for high reps, high sets with lighter weight (except for deadlifts), increasing the weight in a pyramid style every set. One exercise per muscle pulling in the direction of origin. Doug is super intelligent when it comes to biomechanics and exercising smartly. No more overhead presses of any kind for me either. They don't do what I thought they did and only serve to injure the body. I snapped up my right shoulder doing clean and press a couple of weeks ago and had pain for 3 days; no more of that.

I've been following his advice for about a week and half and my body is really feeling it too.

 

[Huntn]

Had a pretty good session at the gym today. Made some serious gains in deadlifts too. Warmed up with 10 reps of 225lbs on the first set; second set was 6 reps of 275lbs and finished it off with 4 reps of 315lbs. I haven't attempted that much weight in about 5 years and it felt good today.

Plus I've changed my overall plan based on champion bodybuilder Doug Brignole. I'm going for high reps, high sets with lighter weight (except for deadlifts), increasing the weight in a pyramid style every set. One exercise per muscle pulling in the direction of origin. Doug is super intelligent when it comes to biomechanics and exercising smartly. No more overhead presses of any kind for me either. They don't do what I thought they did and only serve to injure the body. I snapped up my right shoulder doing clean and press a couple of weeks ago and had pain for 3 days; no more of that.

I've been following his advice for about a week and half and my body is really feeling it too.

Sounds like you are on a roll!

I think swimming has saved my life in that once again I'm able to exert myself in an athletic aerobic manner and not worry about hurting myself. My calculations were a bit off in a previous post. I just got up to 40 laps, doing 5 extra yesterday. But if feels great. One of the keys (for swimming) I've learned is not to outpace my breathing which places greater restrictions on me than when I ran, where I had the luxury of breathing as hard as I could. I'm swimming in a 25 meter pool and when I first started, on my crawl laps, I was stopping on each end due to lack of breath. Granted, I'm improving, but by slowing my pace I'm able to turn on each end and keep going. Yesterday was the first time I swam 5 laps (10 lengths) without stopping, a great achievement.

Maybe @A.Goldberg will chime in, but, my lap sequence, will be 6 crawl, 2 sidestroke, 2 breaststroke. I love the crawl because it allows for a strong scissor kick.