Exercise and Fitness II

[Greywolf2375]

I don't mean to get snippy, but what the fuck is tone? I hate that word. You need to learn a bit about how the body works.

To become less soft, you either need to gain muscle, lose weight, or do both (normally ideal). There is no such thing as tone. It's like saying you want to absorb a book. I know what you are trying to say, but what the word means and how you are using it are not the same thing.

Set real goals that mean something in English. Increasing your cardio is a goal. How much do you want to increase it? Quantify that shit or you're throwing a dart into a dark room.

Did...did you just go Inigo Montoya on us?

And, ironically given the video, today I get to see how my bench form is...

[needle]

This thread scares me.

*goes to read it. Big sighs*

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

This thread scares me.

*goes to read it. Big sighs*

Don't be scared. I am here and other than Stego giving me a few smacks, it is all good (ok, the smacks are good too as he generally knows what to say to keep a person going)

[ztemhead]

It's perfect form. He is teaching perfect form in the video. Watch the video.

stego is that your brother?

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

See, but (speaking as someone who's fought to lose "weight" for years, so has to kep reminding herself of this stuff) "tone" is just shorthand for "higher ratio of lean mass to total body weight, with at least a certain amount of muscle present.*" If you put on muscle, but stayed at the same weight**, you'd be not only smaller in most measurements, but more "toned".

There are many personal aesthetics, and not wanting to be a bodybuilder is definitely one. (I certainly don't want to be one, even though I am trying to increase muscle mass in addition to losing fat.) But talking about toning without losing weight, and yet also without adding muscle, just seems physically impossible to me. (If you lose just fat but no muscle, you'll look more "toned" but you'll lose weight. If you want to keep weight while losing fat, you have to replace it with something.)

Which is not to say cardio is useless! Quite the opposite. I think it's an important part of any all-around fitness routine. No point being slim and/or muscle-bound if you get winded walking down the block -- that's not being fit, to me.

* On one extreme, you have powerlifters. HUGE LBM, but often a hefty layer of fat on top, bringing down their LBM:weight ratio. They care about strength, not definition, so it works for them. On the other, you have the dangerously skinny. (I'm not talking just naturally slender, I mean low-weight anorexics and other starvation victims.) "Great" LBM to total weight ratio, since there's virtually no fat there, but still not what most people would call "toned". Most of us are in between, and want to stay there. Just maybe different parts of that wide in-between range. ;)

** Plus muscle needs more calories to sustain, so increasing your LBM actually helps burn more calories even between workout sessions. Speaking of, I have to get off of my ass and go to the gym rather than take part in interesting threads. I am my own worst enemy with this stuff!

:lol: Should have known that Stego would get there first, and far more succinctly.

[Rubies & Jade]

Woohoo!! Well done BJT! Did you end up joining the one by your house?

thanks Xray! glad that someone decided to be friendly and supportive (as opposed to rude and nasty). I did join one near my home, and I think it work out well time-wise.

I think I'll just spend my time at the gym & mind my own business and stay away from this thread. Its just not worth being attacked for some something so simple as I did. sheesh.

eta: Eefphrodite, thanks for your more friendly response, too. I was speaking generally, but of course I'll lose a little weight and gain a little muscle. Its just not my main goal, I don't feel a huge need to put numbers on these things and spend a lot of energy focusing on it. Stamina and that emotial well-being that I get when I excercise is my goal. thats all. again, sheesh.

[Angalin]

I have to start running again: I had to chase Thing 2 across a soccer pitch in rainboots last night. They're getting too fast for me! Will start slowly though, don't want any wonky knees getting worse. What if I do one block on, one block off to start?

[ztemhead]

eta: Eefphrodite, thanks for your more friendly response, too. I was speaking generally, but of course I'll lose a little weight and gain a little muscle. Its just not my main goal, I don't feel a huge need to put numbers on these things and spend a lot of energy focusing on it. Stamina and that emotial well-being that I get when I excercise is my goal. thats all. again, sheesh.

here's some grains of salt with which to take this thread.

and some selective blindness glasses too.

and a strainer so you don't lose the baby with the bathwater.

and finally a big shiny pan so you may keep the nuggets of gold while leaving the bits of rock behind.

You feel me, dawg?

[ztemhead]

Anyone ever feel like THIS is going to happen to them while doing deadlifts?

[Muttering Bill]

I've gotten my first great workout since joining the gym a few weeks ago. I've been taking it slowly, gradually adding weight to find out what my limits are, without accidentally over-extending myself. I feel that I've finally managed it today.

Weights for today were legs, chest and upper back. For legs I did squats and my back was seated rows. It was nice and tough for both, though I think I'm still a little shy of where I should be to push my limits. I think another 5 will do it. And for chest I did incline presses, and just barely finished my heaviest set. Perfect.

Now I can start making some actual progress. For those muscles at least. I've still got my arms to find the magic numbers for. But one victory at a time.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Anyone ever feel like THIS is going to happen to them while doing deadlifts?

No. :( But then again, the only time I'm doing regular deadlifts is as part of an eight-exercise, "never put the weights down" complex that also involves things like hang cleans and push presses. I'm picking weights that push those, but it isn't a challenge for deadlifting since my arms are so comparatively weak. (F'rex, today I really pushed on the complex, and barely finished. The weight I used is still 17kg less than what I do for straight-leg deadlifts on their own. And honestly, even that I should be pushing more, precisely because I am not feeling that strain.)

Still, good for you. I dream of the day I can do a 1xbodyweight deadlift, never mind over 3xbw.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Could not get out of the house on time this morning (that is to say, with enough time to get in a decent workout in the AM), so I went to the gym this afternoon at lunch. I'm a bit bummed because my right shoulder is giving me some trouble. I actually had to use less weight on that shoulder than on my left. But at least I did my obligatory few-thousand meters on the rowing machine, plus leg extensions, chest presses and torso torsion (and a couple others I can't remember right now).

[lokisnow]

What I desire from my weightlifting is muscular hypertrophy.

myofibrillar hypertrophy or sarcoplasmic hypertrophy?

[lessthanluke]

Hope I hit a 3xbw deadlift this year. My life will be complete lol.

[seastarr]

What do you actually do?, is it just a combination of different stretches to improve flexibility or is there more to it than that?

I don't think that I would have the commitment to go to Yoga classes but some basic ideas for improving my flexibility might be useful for some of the sports I play.

I am a professional leg-puller. I teach pilates, yoga, aerial circus tricks and I do a stretching therapy similar to thai massage but with more traction for the joints. Sort of like a cross between Traeger massage and thai massage.

I am going to get some pics up for you stretching people sometime today. Patience, grasshoppers!

[Liffguard]

Liffguard, regarding quad and calf bulk, you basically have two options to deal with the calves: kneeling lunges with the pelvis pressed low (always tuck pelvis under during quad stretches as it will bring them into length from both attachments rather than just by the knee) OR with the shin up the wall and well cushioned knee. These usually get quads stretched before calves and bulk becomes a problem. Other wise, you can clear the flesh of the calves to the side as you bend the knee deeply to create some space. Grasp the flesh of calf firmly, move it to the outside, and you'll get perhaps a centimeter more bend available. This is what we do in virasana to sit comfortably for meditation.

Ha--I also slipped in a kapotasana in the link because that one really stretches the quads, too.

Thanks for the advice. It's been a bugger of a problem for a while now.

[seastarr]

Thanks for the advice. It's been a bugger of a problem for a while now.

Since I am in the midst of getting together some stretching pics, here's a quad stretch just for you. I would say I am pretty open in my quads, but this one is sure a killer for me.

How to do it well. (Look at the picture first to get a sense of what you are doing):

1) Get the shin and knee as flush on the wall as you can (cushion the knee well because it can hurt)

2)When you bring the pelvis towards upright (left hand side pic) you tuck tuck tuck so that the gluts are engaged. The lower back should not arch excessively, so scoop the belly in.

3)Make sure the forward leg's shin is perpendicular to the floor in all variations.

4) You can play in the stretch by shifting the pelvis down towards the floor as in the right hand side pic. In that variation, there should be no obstruction of calves or hamstrings, I shouldn't think.

I should add that this is sort of an advanced stretch, not necessarily what I'd recommend for someone new to stretching. I think it might work well for Liffguard's specific issue, however. Let me know if you try it and how it goes!

[ztemhead]

challenge extended:

stretches I can do in a parking lot. that is, without my ass or legs touching the ground so as to remain clean.

also I sometimes wear rather heavy boots and loose fitting blue jeans. the taxi can of course be used as furniture, and assume I know the most obvious stretches.

[seastarr]

challenge extended:

stretches I can do in a parking lot. that is, without my ass or legs touching the ground so as to remain clean.

also I sometimes wear rather heavy boots and loose fitting blue jeans. the taxi can of course be used as furniture, and assume I know the most obvious stretches.

Hard! Ok, I'll have to think about this. Is there a place to sit? Like a bench? can you open the taxi door and swing your legs out the door and have space? I'm off to pull legs for a while, so I'll report back later.

[ztemhead]

Hard! Ok, I'll have to think about this. Is there a place to sit? Like a bench? can you open the taxi door and swing your legs out the door and have space? I'm off to pull legs for a while, so I'll report back later.

no real place to sit, except for driver/ passenger's seat, and those limit the available space quite a bit, naturally. No benches, but in all other respects, the Ford Crown Vic is fair play, and open to a decent amount of abuse. open windows, feet on the trunk, whatever so long as there's no lasting scratches.

I'm just trying to find stuff I can do to make use of the huge amounts of downtime I have at random intervals. I'll think a bit more about it as I'm driving tonight.