Exercise and Fitness IX

[Rubies & Jade]

I've been going to the gym 5x a week regularly, which is a huge achievement for me! I also can finally do dips without any assist--not that I can do a lot mind you, but it still feels like I broke through a barrier.

I've also have had a lot of people notice not only my weight loss, but the definition in my arms that I'm getting. its kinda cool.

:)

[Liffguard]

I'm new to these threads, so hi to everyone. :)

Basically, my problem is a slightly flabby gut (too many years of chip- and chocolate-related excesses). I was just wondering what simple exercises you would recommend to strengthen my stomach muscles and lose the wobble. I'm doing sit-ups, gradually increasing the amount I do every few days. And I do press-ups to strengthen my weedy little arms. What other ones work? I'm a noob when it comes to exercise, beyond walking to work each day.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, sit-ups and developing the abdominal muscles won't specifically help with reducing fat around the waist. What you need to do is focus on losing bodyfat overall. That requires a combination of good diet and exercise, diet being more important.

As for exercise, try a combination of cardio and resistance. Cardio can be as simple as running 3km three times a week. Push-ups and sit-ups are good resistance exercises. However, if I were you I'd also add some squats and pull-ups. If you don't have access to a pull-up bar then you can buy them fairly cheap that mount in a door-frame.

[Mudguard]

I've noticed that my dog is a big fan of static stretching. He always stretches out his legs and shoulders, especially the front legs and shoulders when he wakes up. I'm guessing that at least for him, there is a benefit from doing these static stretches. From an evolutionary standpoint, it presumably provides enough of a benefit that the behavior is instiinctual in many animals.

[seastarr]

Joseph Pilates had some interesting things to say about what he learned from watching animals stretch. One thing that sticks in my head from my maestro di pilates was never to push into pain---dogs do not push into pain when they stretch--they generally back away from it or try to "shake it out."

Certainly the yogis and ancient martial artists of the world drew inspiration from animal behaviors, too. Many of the yoga postures are named for animals either because their shapes or their energies mimic animal forms.

Pasha does beautiful sun salutations whenever she gets up from a nap. I find it quite funny though that when she performs the posture "up dog" (urdhva mukha svanasana) she only ever completely stretches out her left leg. Never her right leg.

Had a good yoga class this morning. Got into supta kurmasana (reclining tortoise) by the skin of my teeth! That posture is really a sticking point for me--if I can master it this year, then next year I may be allowed to start to learn the second series. (Ashtanga is separated in various 'series' of postures, and you have to master each posture in the previous series before you are allowed to go on to the next series.) Anyway, supta k. is a really difficult posture, with both legs behind the head and shoulders, so the position itself is hard, as well as the getting into and getting out of it transitions. It involves (arg!) doing a push-up off the floor into an arm balance in the shape. I've yet to get the push-up happening without my legs coming uncrossed and slipping off my head.

[Mudguard]

It's very cool that some of the stretches are based upon animal stretches. My dog knows more yoga than I do! He does a good downward dog; that's one of his favorites. I think he's done the up dog, but it's less frequent. I'm going to keep tally of all the yoga stuff he does.

ETA: that reclining toroise position sounds painful. Legs behind your head and shoulders? Ouch!

[seastarr]

It's very cool that some of the stretches are based upon animal stretches. My dog knows more yoga than I do! He does a good downward dog; that's one of his favorites. I think he's done the up dog, but it's less frequent. I'm going to keep tally of all the yoga stuff he does.

ETA: that reclining toroise position sounds painful. Legs behind your head and shoulders? Ouch!

Ouch is true, but ouch in a good way, so long as the body is ready. It is posture of the tortoise after all, so you just have to be patient and wait for the body to open to get there. Patience is hard for me. I like to hurry, but you just can't in this posture..

[Eponine]

Seastarr-

Pinching in right wrist- is there anything to be done about it? I'm sure that it's because I use the mouse on the computer so much- necessary for my job. It doesn't hurt normally, but bothers me on sun salutations- going in and out of downward dog repeatedly, or if I do pushups. It doesn't bother me in any of the hot yoga poses.

[seastarr]

Seastarr-

Pinching in right wrist- is there anything to be done about it? I'm sure that it's because I use the mouse on the computer so much- necessary for my job. It doesn't hurt normally, but bothers me on sun salutations- going in and out of downward dog repeatedly, or if I do pushups. It doesn't bother me in any of the hot yoga poses.

Top or bottom of wrist (palm-side or top of hand-side?)

I'd love to post my wrist therapies---but I'll have to add it to the list. Time is tight and giving the good instructions takes a little time to think through and organize. My own wrist pain (which admittedly was very mild and very much related to being weak) has simply decreased through much practice and I feel they are supported better by more upper body strength.

Learning to access your shoulder stabilizers, latissimus, and serratus anterior muscles in planks may be helpful and help you be able to direct energy and weight through your palms differently.

My teacher is very particular about use of the hands in all the postures but the actions are complex and will probably take some "do this, not that" photos for you to understand.

Bear with me--I never forget when I say I am going to post something, (no Vethnar, not even your hamstring, which is still on my do list!). I just have to wait till I have the info how I want it.

It seems like the problem may be repetitive use (mousing), and therefore a tightness-inflammation issue.

Stretching the digits and palms into extension may be helpful (like the complete opposite of making a fist).

Also, there are wedges made of foam or cork that you can use under the base of the palms to make the wrist flexion less extreme in those arm-weight bearing postures, but that is like a crutch that will need to be abandoned eventually to do more extreme weight bearing shapes like handstand or arm balances. But you may like to try using it in the DD and push-ups to see if less flexion feels better? You can make a makeshift one just by rolling up the edge of the sticky mat four or five times and putting the thick part under the base of the palm in DD.

But more, later.

[Eponine]

Thanks Seastarr- palm-side of wrist.

[ztemhead]

It's very cool that some of the stretches are based upon animal stretches. My dog knows more yoga than I do!

judo sensei's cat used to do this particular grip when holding down a rodent. we called it "kitty katame" ;)

thanks for the stretches. Vestrit, I'll try them out. I'm glad for the fact that they're upper body ones too.

nice legs day today. sets n sets of squats, 10 reps each. towards the end my form started sucking though, and my back started feeling it.

a good legs workout always makes me feel high afterwards. normally when I'm driving the cab and having a bad time money-wise, I get crabby and irritable, but because it was a legs day I was relaxed and chilled out all day.

[ztemhead]

I'm new to these threads, so hi to everyone. :)

Basically, my problem is a slightly flabby gut (too many years of chip- and chocolate-related excesses). I was just wondering what simple exercises you would recommend to strengthen my stomach muscles and lose the wobble. I'm doing sit-ups, gradually increasing the amount I do every few days. And I do press-ups to strengthen my weedy little arms. What other ones work? I'm a noob when it comes to exercise, beyond walking to work each day.

Thanks in advance.

do you belong to a gym? what equipment do you have access to? I've been using the swiss ball lately for crunches; I'm lukewarm about it. It's supposed to be better, but to me it just feels different. I tried doing them holding a 25 pound plate behind my head, but while my abs were strong enough, it ended up hurting my back. :unsure:

BJT: congrats on the great guns! pics pls! And when are you going to post a pic of your motorcycle?

[Vethnar]

Bear with me--I never forget when I say I am going to post something, (no Vethnar, not even your hamstring, which is still on my do list!).

I have almost forgotten about that myself! :)

Fortunately, my hamstring injury healed very quickly, and I no longer feel any pain at all. I was a little bit nervous yesterday, when I had my first sprint workout with spiked shoes after the injury, but everything went well (except that I still don't run nearly as fast as I would like).

Of course, information about hamstring injuries would still be welcome. It could happen again, to me or to someone else on the board.

[Fleeing Finn]

I was on a cruise to Stockholm over the weekend. Not quite the ideal weekend training and nutrition-wise. Good for me I don't do this often.

More stuff about dieting...

Ketosis doesn't matter. Despite the huge popularity of low carb diets and people swearing to their name I stand by that statement. In the long run, no matter the diet you use, the body will start fighting back on fat loss. That isn't to say low carb diets are bad or that they don't offer certain benefits to other type of diets. In my opinion the success of the low carb diets can be largely contributed to the fact that they are usually also high protein diets. High protein diets are protein (muscle) sparing, keep you satiated better and provide plenty of amino acids for the constant turnover that is going on in the human body tissues, namely the combination of breakdown and re-synthetization of those tissues. Make no mistake, the tissues will continue to break down if you do not provide any dietary protein for the body and in the long run this is not too healthy. Diets on a caloric deficit that don't provide enough protein for the body often lead to considerable tissue breakdown.

However, ketogenic (low carb) diets have some beneficial short term effects on fat loss. When the leptin levels go down the body will start doing everything it can to keep you alive. Grossly simplified leptin is what tells your brain and different tissues that you are not getting enough calories to function normally. That means the body will start prioritizing the systems inside to sustain life in the expense of everything else. Testosterone is one of the first things to go down since muscle and ultimately the need to procreate are useless when you're starving to death. But before the leptin levels go down, restricted carb intake will lower blood glucose and insulin levels and increase cathecolamines release, which will boost fat burning in the short term. This effect is enhanced if you deplete muscle and liver glycogen stores.

There is a lag time between the changes in leptin levels and the body's response and during this time you can burn quite a bit of fat after which all the negative effects hit in. Leptin levels on the other hand can be pretty effectively controlled with cyclical refeeds. You can also go nuts on drugs and feast on testosterone, clenbutherol, insulin, GH and ephedrine and keep starving yourself and your body won't even notice you're eating like a sparrow but I don't recommend it. During refeeds you should eat plenty of carbs (mostly starch) but restrict fat intake. When you're fully glycogen depleted the carbs won't go to synthesize new fat tissue but that extra fat has to go somewhere. Generally speaking high carb + high fat = very bad for fat loss. The duration and the frequency of refeeds depends on the individual, diet goals and how lean you are to begin with.

I guess that's enough for now. Later I'll post an example diet and training-plan aimed for fat loss while maintaining performance.

[ztemhead]

keep you satiated better

this is the key part for me, finn. low carb is the best, and often only way I can eat less without going totally nuts craving sweets. At about day 4 of super-low carb dieting, I lose the desire for sweets. The only problem is my workouts, especially free weights, suffer badly, and I start feeling weak as a kitten. If the goal is fat loss, it works, but it kills me to have to sacrifice the strength I've busted my ass to gain.

Testosterone is one of the first things to go down since muscle and ultimately the need to procreate are useless when you're starving to death.

about that, isn't low carb, high protein and fat better than traditional caloric restriction? I remember reading somewhere that higher fat content is better for testosterone production.

[Rubies & Jade]

BJT: congrats on the great guns! pics pls! And when are you going to post a pic of your motorcycle?

thanks ztem! I'll see what can do about some pics... unfortunately I didn't take any before shots so there may not be much to see!

my bike is not terribly exciting, just a 95 Virago. I ride my SOs highly customized Dyna sometimes, though, and thats more interesting... I'll get a pic of that sometime soon. [btw, we often talk about trying to get bikes out to Arizona to ride... my memories of Tuscon and Phoenix are that the roads there would be so much more fabulous to ride on than here!!]

back on topic, I've also been experimenting with changing the order of my weights, cardio & stretching like you all have been talking about it. and honestly, I haven't been able to tell much of a difference. Of course maybe the fact that I'm working out at 6am means that I'm still waking up and just can't notice the subtle differences!

My latest addition is doing some core work. I usually don't do it much because I get bad muscle spasms in my back & pelvic floor muscles, but I'm trying to work with that. Its slow going.

[Liffguard]

this is the key part for me, finn. low carb is the best, and often only way I can eat less without going totally nuts craving sweets. At about day 4 of super-low carb dieting, I lose the desire for sweets. The only problem is my workouts, especially free weights, suffer badly, and I start feeling weak as a kitten. If the goal is fat loss, it works, but it kills me to have to sacrifice the strength I've busted my ass to gain.

Have you had a look at the anabolic diet? It involves periodic carb-loading to keep energy levels up even though overall carb intake is down. I tried it a few months back and even though I eventually came off it (since it wasn't great for endurance work) I had plenty of energy for lifting.

[Fleeing Finn]

this is the key part for me, finn. low carb is the best, and often only way I can eat less without going totally nuts craving sweets. At about day 4 of super-low carb dieting, I lose the desire for sweets. The only problem is my workouts, especially free weights, suffer badly, and I start feeling weak as a kitten. If the goal is fat loss, it works, but it kills me to have to sacrifice the strength I've busted my ass to gain.

about that, isn't low carb, high protein and fat better than traditional caloric restriction? I remember reading somewhere that higher fat content is better for testosterone production.

After about 4 days on very low carbs the body starts to respond drastically to low leptin levels and that's when all the negative stuff I've talked about starts to kick in.

When you eat a lot of protein on a diet it's only natural to restrict carbs. And yes, I'd always recommend creating a caloric deficit by restricting carbs simply because protein and good fats are essential for your body while on the other hand it can make due with a very small amount of carbs. Testosterone is derived from cholesterol, you need dietary fat to syntesize it. No matter the diet you are on it should always contain a certain amount of good dietary fats.

All of the above will be covered by the example diet I'm hopefully going to post in a few days time. Although I've been thinking that maybe I should just PM it to you since no one else seems to be too interested and it's probably going to be huge post... or maybe not if I can just put it in the form of "do this and that and you're golden" and not explain anything about the why. I did cover some of the whys in my earlier posts though.

Have you had a look at the anabolic diet? It involves periodic carb-loading to keep energy levels up even though overall carb intake is down. I tried it a few months back and even though I eventually came off it (since it wasn't great for endurance work) I had plenty of energy for lifting.

The Anabolic Diet is simply one form of a cyclical ketogenic diet and in my opinion it lacks in not having specific guidelines and just being too general to be really effective. Also, in my opinion, DiPasquale doesn't address training enough in his book. "Lifting weights is good, you should lift weights. Fat is a good source of energy for endurance training, load up on fat not on carbs." is not enough. When on a cyclical keto it's very important to know when and how to train if you want optimal results. You can still get good results with the diet but I think it's hardly ideal.

[yamabushi]

All of the above will be covered by the example diet I'm hopefully going to post in a few days time. Although I've been thinking that maybe I should just PM it to you since no one else seems to be too interested and it's probably going to be huge post... or maybe not if I can just put it in the form of "do this and that and you're golden" and not explain anything about the why. I did cover some of the whys in my earlier posts though.

I'm interested in seeing it also if you don't mind posting it.

[Lord of Rhinos]

Second wanting to see the post.

[ztemhead]

I shaved a minute off my 6 mile time today to a personal best of 47:50. *is pleased*

and now, it's oatmeal time.