Exercise and Fitness!

[Whitestripe]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I suggest Pilates. Having some private lessons would be a good way to start, because you have your trainer there to get you motivated and you have an appointment you have to keep. I know people think Pilates is expensive, but it's completely worth it. Besides, you might get lucky and find a teacher who is willing to do a trade or something. I have been known to trade sessions for African stew, massage, a salmon dinner, paintings, studio cleaning, and all kinds of other stuff. Also, lots of studios have training programs where you can work with a student for heavy discounts and still get the benefits of a private lesson.

How lame is it that I have all these free (!!) classes available to me and yet, I don't go? I've been to the Pilates class on and off for a number of years, but I *must* not be doing something right because it never seems to work for me. I'd LOVE to go to the Core Training class, but the time (Mon and Wed at 6:15 doesn't work.) I'd like to try one of the spinning classes, but I fear that I would embarrass myself. What I really need to do is find a buddy here at work who will just go to the gym with me. (Or take a bike ride with me on the 12 or so nice days we have per year.) I did happen to be in traffic court last month with one of the college's trainers (small town, everybody knows everybody else's business). I really should just make an appointment to see her and let her give me the scoop on what I need to do. I am told that you are allowed a certain number of free sessions per semester.

[ztemhead]

I was curious about the pushup program, as I have not done pushups heavily in years. I got to 120 before a pause, which impressed me a lot. (I suppose the heavy bench pressing helped a lot.)

jeez louise. :stunned:

I had the most awesome workout today.

Highlights being I did three chinups, (close grip, palms facing me- wide grips are still hard) and managed a 305 lb deadlift. Yeah yeah, I wish I could have put three plates on each side, but my body decided it didn't want to. Regardless, I'm satisfied with the improvement, especially since I only started doing them with regularity about a month ago.

But now some kudos.

special thanks to Nakkie (that's Navy Nakkie from chat who doesn't like people looking at his wang when he pees) who suggested doing chinups as a way to improve grip strength, and hence improve deadlifts. This has proven excellent advice. Also special thanks to livejournal guy who showed me how to do them in the first place; deadlifts are my new favorite exercise. Note that borrowing some guy's chalk today made all the difference in the world. Aside from exerting so much energy trying to keep the bar from slipping out of my hands, it also breaks my concentration trying to get all the other muscles working together at once.

I've taken a creatine supplement off and on (one of the non-loading phase ones) over the last few months, but I hadn't noticed any difference with it until today when I also drank a vitamin water about 2/3 of the way through my workout. 70 minutes of free weights, half an hour of cardio and I still had gas in the tank for more. Yeah there's 25 grams of sugar in the drink, but to be able to lift more, longer makes it seem worth it. As for the creatine, I could take it or leave it. It's too expensive for me to buy consistently, so once the bottle is empty, I'm done.

[lessthanluke]

Nice pr ztem! Time to get some chalk. I hit a PR on rack pulls today and have just played football for an hour. Oh and because everyones talking about push ups I'm gonna see how many I can do.

[ztemhead]

Nice pr ztem! Time to get some chalk. I hit a PR on rack pulls today and have just played football for an hour. Oh and because everyones talking about push ups I'm gonna see how many I can do.

oh yeah, I meant to ask- is there any special kind of chalk to buy or can I just go to the office supply store and get some blackboard chalk and break it up? the guy at the gym seemed to be using bits of something.

[Stego]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/chalk.html

I use that.

[lessthanluke]

oh yeah, I meant to ask- is there any special kind of chalk to buy or can I just go to the office supply store and get some blackboard chalk and break it up? the guy at the gym seemed to be using bits of something.

I dunno if chalkboard chalk would work. Think its slightly different. I got mine off ebay but you could get some from any mountain climbing shop. Its cheap as hell. Like ten dollars worth has lasted me well over a year.

[lessthanluke]

Or use stegos link lol

oh yeah, I meant to ask- is there any special kind of chalk to buy or can I just go to the office supply store and get some blackboard chalk and break it up? the guy at the gym seemed to be using bits of something.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Okay, a question for all you knowledgeable people... How much harm am I doing to my fitness/weight loss regimen by smoking weed? I smoke on weekends and one or two nights a week. What does weed do to you? Slow down the metabolism? Reduce testosterone?

I have a friend who's an athlete and likes weed. His performance dropped when he was smoking from a bowl or bong 5 or six times a week, but picked up after he switched to a vape and smoked a little less.

Use a vape. You don't damage your lungs that way

[Iskaral Pust]

What's the opinion on creatine around here? I took some for a little while with protein shakes back when I was seriously working out. A lot of lifters raved about it, but then some others warned me off it. No-one knew what long term use might do. But that was almost ten years ago, so there must be some info now on effects from long term use.

[daremo]

A friend of mine recommended this site, www.crossfit.com . I ignored him until I tried it and I have drank the cool aide. Check it out. It has everything you need and if you have questions, PM me.

As for results, I just did an Army APFT for score and it was a 300, in the 17-21 age group. I am 40.

*stupid me for not knowing how to add a link, still.*

[ztemhead]

What's the opinion on creatine around here? I took some for a little while with protein shakes back when I was seriously working out. A lot of lifters raved about it, but then some others warned me off it. No-one knew what long term use might do. But that was almost ten years ago, so there must be some info now on effects from long term use.

I've read uniformly good reviews about it, though there are different types you can take. It's good for the heart, helps you gain muscle mass, and you can lift more for longer.

from [Nationally Recognized Bodybuilding Mag, NOT Men's Health]

Creatine has literally hundreds of studies supporting it's ability to boost muscle growth and strength. Creatine makes you stronger by keeping your muscles saturated with the fast energy they need to perform rep after rep in the gym. It also pulls water into the muscle cells, giving them a biochemical advantage and leading to gains in size. Finally, creatine has been found to boost growth by increasing levels of IGT-1 in muscle.

my suggestion is to take it a little bit before your workout, say an hour or two. Key thing is to drink a ton of water before and during your workout- the way it works is it plows all that water into the muscles, as alluded to above. Also good is if you mix it with something a little sugary- today I had the sports drink mid workout, and it seemed to work much better.

drawbacks. this one kind I have now is in pill form, called kre alkaline . two big problems I have with it are that if I don't drink just a ton of water post workout, I get killer headaches. dairy products also exacerbate this, I've found. Second, it makes me a little sleepy later in the day. *shrugs* maybe it's just telling my body it needs downtime to repair itself. Either way, pain in the ass.

also, I wouln't necessarily take it with protein. the standard recipe seems to be creatine + water/ sports drink/ juice pre workout, protein post workout, preferably within an hour after you stop.

[lessthanluke]

Creatine has never done much for me personally.

[Stego]

Creatine gives an amazing pump and might extend my workouts by one more rep. Not much else. It destroys my intestines -- I get cramps and the shits if I don't use micronized creatine.

Nothing wrong with putting it in your protein shake, Ztem. It just absorbs better bound to a simple carb. Plenty of simple carbs in most protein shakes. (Particularly yours with fruit and stuff in it!)

Do not worry about what time of day you take it. Simply take it the same time every day. 2-3 times a day. Or you get no effect from it. (Assuming you are on a hardcore regimen.) There is simply no way creatine makes it into your muscle tissue in an hour or two. It does not work like that.

[Tempra]

I never notice any physical effects from creatine. There is quite a bit of research that creatine improves cognitive and memory performance. Because creatine is dirt cheap (11 bucks for 2 months) and you only need about 5 grams a day to get the benefits, I see no reason not to take it.

What's the opinion on creatine around here? I took some for a little while with protein shakes back when I was seriously working out. A lot of lifters raved about it, but then some others warned me off it. No-one knew what long term use might do. But that was almost ten years ago, so there must be some info now on effects from long term use.

Unless you have renal disease, there is no need to worry about negative effects of creatine. It is the single most tested sports supplement and I don't believe there is a single study showing any negative effects to healthy(i.e. don't have renal disease) humans.

Drink a lot of water.

[Lightning Lord]

I feel a little weird posting here, since it is mostly people trying to bulk up and I am simply training for races. Oh well, I thinking writing out my goals helps me keep going, since others know if I screw up or not.

I ended up doing 12k yesterday and the day before. Monday was only 10k and Sunday was off day. Overall, about 50k running in the last 5 days. Today is a light day, only thinking of getting in 6k. I have 12 hours of work today, harder to get in a full run. Tomorrow I am planning on 15-17k on a new route, so not sure how long it is.

That'll give me about 70k of running for my first week back. The weekend involves mountain hiking, not sure if I'll have a chance to run on Sunday.

[Stego]

It has been shown to cause cramps and diarrhea in some people.

<-----Like this guy.

[Red Sun]

Yesterday, I did mostly leg exercises: 3x10 squats (the only where you pretend to sit down) and lunges (forward and to the side). Then I did those forward kicks, I have retained from one semester of Shaolin Kempo, and some other step combinations. Even though, I did not vomit, I felt that this was the first real effective workout, because I was really in sweat and I can certainly feel my muscles this morning.

[Eponine]

That'll give me about 70k of running for my first week back. The weekend involves mountain hiking, not sure if I'll have a chance to run on Sunday.

How long did you take off? I'm still working my way back up to 70k, but I took off for a good while. I ran about 55k last week.

Well, I'd like to get up to about 100k weeks this year, but won't be there for a while.

[lokisnow]

never taken creatine, not really interested in dropping more money on yet another supplement. I already resent buying whey protein and remain suspicious about whether or not what's in the powder is what the nutrition facts label claim. I wish supplements were rigidly regulated.

Had a good workout today, first chest/arms day on MAXOT, I surprised myself and did my final set of bench presses at 155 no problem or real struggle. I underestimated how much strength I maintained these last years. be interesting to see how much heavier I can go next week and if I find my positive failure spot for benching or if I won't reach it yet. I did hit my forearms really well, the alternating dumbbell wrist curls was the only exercise today that I hit positive failure at. Next week is going to be brutal, I imagine. :D

[Liffguard]

oh yeah, I meant to ask- is there any special kind of chalk to buy or can I just go to the office supply store and get some blackboard chalk and break it up? the guy at the gym seemed to be using bits of something.

This is what I use. Doesn't leave a mess and lasts much longer on your hands than powdered stuff. Just make sure you moisturise your hands afterwards since the mix contains alcohol. Between alcohol, chalk and lots of friction your hands'll dry out fast enough to leave cracks.