Exercise & Fitness VII

[Eponine]

I'm through my prescription and still not feeling better. Starting on week 3 of not exercising. Going to call the doctor again tomorrow.

[ztemhead]

Someone praise me please. ;)

I did a bike trip of 60 km (about 37 miles) today. Took me about 3 h 15 min (biketime only, overall the trip took me 3 h 40 min). So not fast, but still...

I'm quite proud of myself. :D

good work! I was working up to some serious rides like that, but my bike got stoled. Grrr...

Eponine, sorry to hear. Good luck with the doc.

[Gilgamesh]

Many thanks for the handstand links and advice, guys.

[Vethnar]

For the weightlifters among you:

I stumbled upon this video of Pyrros Dimas training today. It's the most impressive and inspirational training video I've ever seen. He makes it look ridiculously easy and effortless to lift these heavy weights, almost as if all these huge plates were made of styrofoam.

[seastarr]

I dragged myself out of bed this morning and I am on my way to ashtanga practice. I'm looking forward to it--I missed last week due to needing to get some sleep. This time of year is when my work gets ridiculously hectic, and my schedule gets slammed.

My goal this year is to not overbook myself so I still have time to do my own workouts.

[Eponine]

Simon, have you ever tried something like this?

http://www.thesock.com/

I haven't personally used it, and I'm not trying to get you to buy it or anything, just something to consider.

I had minor plantar fasciitis- it bothered me on my arch, not my heel, and I got rid of it by rolling my foot around on a tennis ball every day and then on a foot wheel (but progressing to a golf ball would do the same thing).

[cjfshaw]

I agree with everything you've said, and I appreciate that you are not mincing around the fact that there is no nonsurgical method of spot fat reduction. People who say "this exercise (or this diet plan) - it will obliterate any kind of bodyfat you are looking to get rid of" are not being technically correct, and holding out promises that can't be kept.

Just look at marathon runners and even people who just run consistently. Running WILL get rid of a LOT of the fat on your body. Everyone I know who has picked up running to lose weight has done so successfully, and you don't even have to be hardcore about it you just have to be consistent. Also I never said anything about 'spot reduction' even though you may have interpreted it that way.

[Liffguard]

Liffguard - weights first, then cardio? Hm, I always do it the other way around. Since I'm not looking to bulk up with muscle, am I ok, or should I change the order in which I do things?

Ideally, yes. In general, it's more beneficial to do your weights first. However, depending on how heavy you're lifting, it's not a huge problem. If you lift heavy (six reps or less) then you shouldn't be doing it unless fresh. With lighter weights for endurance it's less of an issue.

If I remember my sciency stuff correctly, this comes down to your body's energy systems. There are three; the phosphate system, the lactate system and the aerobic system. Weight training generally only uses the first two, cardio training starts off on the first two then switches over to the third. If you do cardio first, you deplete the first two systems and then switch over to the aerobic system. Since the first two are depleted it's harder to do weights afterwards. However, if you do weights first then the phosphate and lactate systems are still depleted but this impacts cardio training less since when doing cardio training your body quickly switches to the aerobic system when the first two can't cope.

Or the short version, cardio training negatively affects weight training but not as much vice versa.

It's been a while since I studied that stuff in any depth so if someone more knowledgeable could let me know if I got the details right that would be awesome.

[Stego]

In a nutshell, yes, you should be doing weights first. :D

[Liffguard]

In a nutshell, yes, you should be doing weights first. :D

Rad :cheers:

[Adz of CCAA]

good work! I was working up to some serious rides like that, but my bike got stoled. Grrr...

Thank you, ztemhead. :)

Some idiot stole my previous bike on Good Friday, in bright daylight in front of the indoor swimming pool. There were like hundreds of other bikes, but apparently it had to be mine. :tantrum:

I have it included in some insurance, so at least I got some money back.

[cjfshaw]

Legs-still-hurt, ow! This is definitely a different kind of workout than what I get from running. I can feel it a LOT more in my quads than when I do frog jumps, phantom chairs, or hill runs. My hamstrings aren't nearly as bad as when I do a 3 mile run though. Didn't do anything for calves. I can feel a lot more soreness on the outside of my thighs but not much of anything on the inside of my thighs or on the outside of my glutes, which my old coach referred to as the hip flexors.

[lessthanluke]

For the weightlifters among you:

I stumbled upon this video of Pyrros Dimas training today. It's the most impressive and inspirational training video I've ever seen. He makes it look ridiculously easy and effortless to lift these heavy weights, almost as if all these huge plates were made of styrofoam.

Dimas is a badass. It is known.

As for me I squatted 210kg x 1 on friday and deadlifted 220 x 3 today. Good stuff.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I find it's generally better to do your weights first and then cardio if you're going to do them together. Also, what sort of weights do you do? Mostly machines or free weights?

To get rid of body fat comes down to about 70% diet and 30% training. There's no way of getting rid of love handles specifically, you have to reduce your bodyfat percentage as a whole. At its heart that comes down to three things:

1) Healthy eating, with lots of vegetables and protein, some fat and not too many carbs. Small, frequent meals.

2) Cardio training. More intense is mostly better, interval training is great if you can do it.

3) Heavy compound weightlifting. This increases your base metabolic rate so you burn more calories.

Thanks for the advice! I will be trying this next time I go... the problem with doing weights first is that I have to force myself to keep at cardio, and it's easier to do this when I have a lot of energy. But I suppose it'd be more beneficial for a lot of reasons to do cardio - which I believe burns more calories per minute than weights? - after weights.

Define compound weightlifting. I use primarily machines because free weights are a hassle and my gym is well-equipped with every machine I could wish for. (as an aside, my favorite is the oblique machine. Nothing pops your back better than that thing pulling you to 90 degrees).

Distance running. It will obliterate any kind of bodyfat you are looking to get rid of.

I think you're definitely right about this. My only problem is that I live in Fort Worth. If you've never lived in Central Texas during late summer - don't. It's WAY too hot to run outside for 99% of the day, and I can't stand running on the indoor track or on the treadmill for more than half an hour or so. When I'm running I like to have scenery.

How does long-distance bike riding compare to long-distance running, in terms of fat-loss benefits? Because we have a great bike track around part of my university, about 3 miles long, and on a bike I don't overheat so easily as when running.

[cjfshaw]

Thanks for the advice! I will be trying this next time I go... the problem with doing weights first is that I have to force myself to keep at cardio, and it's easier to do this when I have a lot of energy. But I suppose it'd be more beneficial for a lot of reasons to do cardio - which I believe burns more calories per minute than weights? - after weights.

Define compound weightlifting. I use primarily machines because free weights are a hassle and my gym is well-equipped with every machine I could wish for. (as an aside, my favorite is the oblique machine. Nothing pops your back better than that thing pulling you to 90 degrees).

I think you're definitely right about this. My only problem is that I live in Fort Worth. If you've never lived in Central Texas during late summer - don't. It's WAY too hot to run outside for 99% of the day, and I can't stand running on the indoor track or on the treadmill for more than half an hour or so. When I'm running I like to have scenery.

How does long-distance bike riding compare to long-distance running, in terms of fat-loss benefits? Because we have a great bike track around part of my university, about 3 miles long, and on a bike I don't overheat so easily as when running.

I believe compound weightlifting here is referring to movements which require more than one muscle, or one muscle group, to achieve the end result. For example, a compound lift would be a pull-up because you are using your upper (and middle?) back muscles as well as your biceps. On the other end of the spectrum is isolation exercises, like a leg extension which only works out the quadriceps.

When it comes to a comparison of cardiovascular workouts I've heard it works like this. Biking is the easiest and you have to bike 3x as far as you run to get the same amount of a caloric burn. And running is easier than swimming, supposedly you have to run 3x as far as you swim to get the same amount of caloric burn. However, I have no kind of scientific proof or anything to support this. I only have what people have told me and personal experience. So I would take that with a boulder of salt.

[seastarr]

Well, this morning's yoga practice was a good one. I was in the zone! Every now and then, I just have these practices that are a whole different quality. In the first five sun salutations, this feeling of grace and calmness and ease comes into me through having a powerful breath that is synced up with my motions. It is quite an altered state of mind and body. It happens to me maybe once every couple of months, and when it does, I feel so blessed and happy. My body feels like nothing but light and air, and it doesn't have to be driven or convinced to do the postures, it just does them willingly and well. I wish it was that way all the time!

[Eponine]

Despite caloric burn, if you LIKE riding the bike track and dislike the treadmill, you should do the bike track, at least in the late summer. In general, I believe that you'll get the most longterm benefit out of doing exercise activities that you like- you'll be more motivated to do it more often instead of either falling off the wagon or suffering through something you dread. (Of course if you hate all exercise, I guess you just have to find something and suck it up). The important thing is to keep your heart rate up, and if you can do that, finding the most optimal exercise shouldn't matter as much.

Although I can believe that swimming burns more calories, as it engages the arms a lot more, why is the reason that many swimmers tend to retain more outer fat than runners? I understand that subcutaneous fat increases buoyancy and isn't the same as unhealthy visceral fat, but how does the body know when to store it? Or is more a case that people who tend to that body type are able to identify themselves as good swimmers, while people with a running build tend to sink? If I stopped running and took up swimming, would my body composition change?

[ztemhead]

on the same topic I'm curious why powerlifters, while very big, aren't cut like professional bodybuilders are. I wonder what purpose that little bit of fat serves. :dunno:

[cjfshaw]

The reason swimmers have more fat on their person even though the activity is more intense is that because they do their workouts in the cold water, the body adapts to this by adding on fat in order to try to keep itself warm. Also, supposedly you will be really hungry after a workout in the pool but not so hungry after a running workout.

I have an idea about the powerlifter thing but I don't know if it's right. Typically powerlifters do sets of 5 reps so that they can get as much strength gain with as little size gain, because in powerlifting competitions they have categories based on your weight. Now because of this, I assume they don't do a lot of cardio because that would condtion whatever muscles they used in the cardio activity to become more endurance based as opposed to strength based. Although that is all conjecture on my part I really don't know.

[seastarr]

ztem, maybe the division is one of form versus function: power-lifters are lifting for a function-based goal (max. weight in their lifts), whereas pro body builders are lifting for a form-based goal (appearance)? So that fat can be there for the power lifters because it doesn't have to be gotten rid of to excel at the sport. The pro builders are judged and scored based on appearance, and the current standard is to have an extremely cut look. I have known pro-builders who really tortured their bodies to get cut-looking, particularly through severe dehydration before and during competitions, to maintain the cut look.

edit: grammar