FitnessBore - 2018 edition

[Cormacaroni]

yeah, nuts are like crack, especially cashew and macadamia.

for me it is chocolate with high percentage of cacao.  I don't know what the consensus of how good they are to have, but of most foods I eat (I don't have a strict diet or anything) it seems like the worst.  well, best tasting at least.

Dark chocolate is actually a pretty decent cheat, thanks to the anti-oxidant effects. It is a 'sensible vice'. Like red wine, in moderation, the health benefits offset the negatives. And there is ample evidence that a satisfying diet (mentally) has great health benefits all by itself. This should not be interpreted as a license to sit on the couch eating cheeseburgers and ice cream all day, but more as a reminder to take joy in your food. If you cheat on your diet, do so with no guilt and great relish.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-all-chocolate-created-equal/

[Cormacaroni]

I lost 15 pounds (went from 167 to 152) by just running, didn't change my diet at all.

CARBS

In fact, I think I'll get myself a tasty Bahn Mi for lunch.

What is surprising about that? I did something very similar, by doing Crossfit without cleaning up my diet. No-one is suggesting that you can't lose weight on another diet or via an exercise-induced caloric deficit. My contention is that these methods are just seriously sub-par for overall health and fitness.

On the other hand, I've just had a 2 week vacation - no exercise, ate fairly strict Paleo the whole time, ate like a king, didn't gain any weight. Try doing that while eating all the carbs you want. Every time I took a vacation that long before (with no workouts), I put on a couple of pounds at least.

[cool breeze]

yeah, nuts are like crack, especially cashew and macadamia.

for me it is chocolate with high percentage of cacao.  I don't know what the consensus of how good they are to have, but of most foods I eat (I don't have a strict diet or anything) it seems like the worst.  well, best tasting at least.

Dark chocolate is actually a pretty decent cheat, thanks to the anti-oxidant effects. It is a 'sensible vice'. Like red wine, in moderation, the offset health benefits offset the negatives. And there is ample evidence that a satisfying diet (mentally) has great health benefits all by itself. This should not be interpreted as a license to sit on the couch eating cheeseburgers and ice cream all day, but more as a reminder to take joy in your food. If you cheat on your diet, do so with no guilt and great relish.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-all-chocolate-created-equal/

that was an interesting read.  thanks.

[Cormacaroni]

man, you are spot on w/ regards to the insulin sensitivity -- i've been paleo-dieting, as you put it, since the start of february, and ANY serious carbs that aren't whole wheat/grain make me feel ill (which is great, imho). greek yogurt ftw

i've given up my massive caffeine addiction as well, which was freakin' rough, but i do sleep loads better -- i had terrible insomnia up until the time i started this diet, and now i sleep 7 hours straight at a shot.

on the other hand, my aspartame consumption has gone through the roof, but it hasn't seem to have an effect -- yet. apparently it CAN trigger ghrelin responses that encourage cravings in some folks, but i haven't seen it.

Water don't trigger nothin except the need to pee, just sayin'. Hundreds of thousands of years of evidence that water is good for us, not so much for Diet Coke.

[brawndolicious]

am nintenho the only person not getting it. Oh well, I've been lazy in posting so I can't bitch too much.
You get all the glycogen you need eating paleo - Mark Sisson came 4th in the Hawaii Iron Man on a Paleo diet. Simple carbs are not the only food group that creates glycogen! Protein stimulates insulin too, as anyone who's been in a 'meat coma' after a big BBQ can testify. If you want calcium, just drink some milk or eat yoghurt. Relatively few people get as far into Paleo eating as to give up dairy entirely. Most people don't even give up the grains completely, and there are plenty of Paleo gurus who swear by dairy (one guy - an MD - lives almost entirely off whole cream and butter).
Don't think you're ok eating all the crap you want just because you're skinny or doing lots of cardio. The visceral fat accumulated by skinny folks is more dangerous from a health standpoint that belly or thigh fat, it's just not so (visibly) ugly. Go take an MRI and tell me how skinny you are. And you also likely lack on muscle and organ reserve, both of which will stand you in very good stead in later life or when you get sick.

Yeah, I've been reading up on it and I see some people say DO do dairy anyways.  It's obviously not a part of the hunter-gatherer diet but it's a good source of all the essential fatty acids.  I can see some parts I agree with and some that I don't, but overall, I need to do more research in all the different opinions on that diet.
 
I am also generally skeptical of carbs being so bad when you consider how well the body can adapt to different diets.  It's also hard to judge the impact of a paleo diet on cardiovascular health and diabetes as those kill you well after your reproductive years and thus, shouldn't have a big impact on how reproductively fit you are and that would definitely muddy up the "survival of the fittest" logic behind the diet.

[Cormacaroni]

Simple carbs can sustain life, of course. My Irish ancestors used to live on little else than potatoes, and because they worked for 16hrs a day in the fields to grow those potatoes, they did ok even without advanced medical treatment because they burned off the blood sugar as soon as it was created. Ditto for many Asian populations and rice. But it's a seriously sub-optimal situation that us in the food-abundant modern 1st world have the means to correct, because all that oxidation is extremely wearing and ages the system prematurely. Many of the worst ill-effects take a long time to show up, but you can tell the positive effects of eating better almost immediately. Your energy levels and appetite smooth out, 'cause you're not doing the 'high-low, high-low' blood sugar maintenance routine. With me, it shows up immediately in my skin. If I eat, sleep and exercise, my skin is fine. If not, I break out (even at my age). I don't really need any long-term studies to confirm what is obvious from a few weeks of eating differently, but they're out there.

Puzzled by your 'survival of the fittest logic' statement. The people you're talking about ONLY ate Paleo because there were no alternatives back then. We didn't see some people thrive on Paleo and some not thrive eating pasta and rice because no-one was eating the latter in 100,000 BC. Thus, there was no selection for eating Paleo other than 'starve to death immediately or eat what's available'.

Also, it's quite possible to die of diabetes or a heart attack long before you reproduce but that's irrelevant for our purposes.

[Cormacaroni]

btw, the aim should not be to emulate the hunter-gatherer; it's to determine what foods are good for us/what foods are harmful and to eat accordingly. That's it. If great foods have surfaced in the interim (like greek yoghurt and bacon), I say eat them.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Had steak and eggs this morning

[Kestastrophe]

Nice with the sticky.

Trying my hand at Crossfit. I did the Fran workout yesterday (I am lagging wod's). It sounded really easy, but it kicked my ass. I couldn't do all of the pullups, but I was able to do 10 for all three sets.

LEOP! (looks easy on paper)

Fran is an absolute bitch but do all the pull-ups next time! Don't be afraid (or embarrassed) to switch to jumping pull-ups or otherwise-assisted PUs when you just can't do anymore deadhangs or kips, even after resting. Also, I wouldn't follow the crossfit.com workouts religiously or anything; some of them are just ridiculous. Have a look at the hundreds of Crossfit affiliate gyms who post workouts online and try different ones that look manageable.

This is from yesterday

"The Seven"

Seven rounds for time of:
7 Handstand push-ups
135 pound Thruster, 7 reps
7 Knees to elbows
245 pound Deadlift, 7 reps
7 Burpees
7 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
7 Pull-ups



yeah right

[pollo]

Cor can you recommend a good paleo book?

[Cormacaroni]

The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain is the original. He also wrote one called "The Paleo Diet For Athletes" which is useful. The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson is great...he also has a cookbook coming that i'm looking forward too.

[Cormacaroni]

Nice with the sticky.

Trying my hand at Crossfit. I did the Fran workout yesterday (I am lagging wod's). It sounded really easy, but it kicked my ass. I couldn't do all of the pullups, but I was able to do 10 for all three sets.

LEOP! (looks easy on paper)

Fran is an absolute bitch but do all the pull-ups next time! Don't be afraid (or embarrassed) to switch to jumping pull-ups or otherwise-assisted PUs when you just can't do anymore deadhangs or kips, even after resting. Also, I wouldn't follow the crossfit.com workouts religiously or anything; some of them are just ridiculous. Have a look at the hundreds of Crossfit affiliate gyms who post workouts online and try different ones that look manageable.

This is from yesterday

"The Seven"

Seven rounds for time of:
7 Handstand push-ups
135 pound Thruster, 7 reps
7 Knees to elbows
245 pound Deadlift, 7 reps
7 Burpees
7 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
7 Pull-ups



yeah right

Yeah, that's a great example of how they're targeting the elite 1% of all athletes these days. 49 deadlifts at 245? How many people can do that without ending up in traction? Of course, the barbell stuff is easy to scale back, but it's not so easy to figure out useful substitions for stuff like handstand push-ups or knees to elbows. After a while you can figure it out (i'd do regular push-ups and sit-ups, respectively, and no more than 220 for the deadlifts) but people who jump in and do it as written will get murderated. They REALLY need to start posting different levels of workouts. It's been a problem for a while but it seems to be getting worse.

[Rman]

I'm not a big calorie counter, but I've been using fitday of late.  The online version is very competent.  I use it mostly to track my macro nutrient breakdown.

[WrikaWrek]

Corma, i read about carbs after workout.

Usually i just take a shake, and then when i get home i eat dinner, carbs consisting of just Veggies. Is that enough for a post workout?

[Cormacaroni]

Depends. Robb Wolf (www. robbwolf.com) is very keen on the post-work out carbs (including fairly starchy fare like yams), but adds the qualification that it's for the people who have leaned out first. So, if you're above say 8% body fat, he thinks you're better off not going out of your way to consciously take in extra carbs at any point. This is complicated stuff, then. And you gotta remember, when someone like Robb Wolf says "carbs", he is NOT talking about bread or pasta. He's still got this laser-like focus on quality food sources at all times.

As a general rule, I'd say that if your only carb intake is from veggies (other than the starchy stuff like potatoes), you're going to be in pretty damn good shape, diet-wise. If you feel seriously energy-deprived after working out, and feel like your recovery is sub-par, experiment with some fruit or some sweet potatoes soon after the workout (within 30 mins is the figure I keep hearing, not sure why). Since it usually takes most people 30 mins just to get their shit together and back from the gym, you'd probably need to plan this in advance. A shake might be a decent idea here. Coconut milk, some banana, some blueberries or strawberries, scoop of whey protein, something like that. Sounds yummy to me, and nothing you couldn't eat at any other time of day.

Myself, i usually have a small snack post-workout. I keep a bag of figs and nuts at my desk, and pick up some milk at the convenience store on the way back from the gym. Maybe have some jerky and a banana or something as well. That's seems to do the trick, but I could probably do better if I was at home with access to my fridge and the kitchen.

[WrikaWrek]

Thanks, i actually feel pretty good post workout. I drink a Protein shake as soon as i get down to the locker, and from the gym to my house it's 10 min walking, and i dine as soon as i get home.

I don't know how lean i am math wise, but i doubt i'm lower than 8%, i have to figure it out. But in any case i might experiment mixing in a banana in my post workout Shake.

[Cormacaroni]

Here's the article I had in mind, although it's fairly dense stuff if you're not familiar with the terminology:

http://robbwolf.com/2009/07/01/post-workout-nutrition-high-or-low-carb/

The Cliff Notes version: the advantages of a relatively high carb* PWO meal is that exercise raises insulin sensitivity (generally a good thing), so it creates a period where protein and carbs can be absorbed by the muscles (i.e. put to use in recovery) without being diverted so much by insulin (into fat storage etc). It also replenishes blood glycogen used in the workout (which of course varies greatly depending on your workout, so be smart here as well).

* still shockingly low in carbs relative to the average meal at Denny's perhaps but relative to the rest of the diet he would normally recommend. And it assumes you have got to a "healthy" state first, which means cutting back on carbs to the point where you have leaned out and are insulin-sensitive.

Also bear in mind that Robb is talking to some fairly serious athletes here, people who care deeply about their nutrition and performance. So some of this is definitely OTT for most people. 99% of humanity doesn't need to worry overly about the macronutrient ratios of their PWO meal 'cause they've got a whole host of other health issues to resolve first.

[Cormacaroni]

I want to gain some muscle mass, I am skinny as fuck. Is there anybody else who has similar plans?
Also, I am very ignorant when it comes to counting calories, diets, x90, BMI and all that new age shit. I just try to eat as much meat and lift weights as much as I can but I haven't done so in more than a year and have pucked up smoking too which I am trying to quit. I don't plan on taking steroids and dealing with gynos doesn't interest me.

Well, I just got done with a 6 month strength-only program a few months back. It was done more with the aim of getting stronger in order to do certain stuff I wanted to do rather than getting bigger, but getting bigger was pretty much inevitable, and I did. I put on at least 15lbs (and got a lot stronger). If you go back through the thread, me, Draft, T EXP, Kestrastrophe and more discuss our experiences with this kind of thing. I did Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program, and ate anything I could get my hands on. Pizza, beer, steak, cheese, whatever. Lots of milk and nuts.

Bottom line: Squat and deadlift and press as heavy as you can 3 times a week and eat like a motherfucker, that's about all there is to gaining (muscular) weight for most people. You just have to tweak it for your own biases (how fat can i stand to get vs how much stronger do i want to get)

[WrikaWrek]

Is there a way to gain considerable muscle without the "eat carbs like a motherfucker" option? Even if it takes more time?

[Boogie]

Is there a way to gain considerable muscle without the "eat carbs like a motherfucker" option? Even if it takes more time?

huh?

[WrikaWrek]

Carbohydrates

[Boogie]

Carbohydrates

carbs to gain muscle?  is the whole world gone mad?

[Rman]

Is there a way to gain considerable muscle without the "eat carbs like a motherfucker" option? Even if it takes more time?

Protein, my man.
Eggs, meat, fish, poultry, whey protein.

You can also try coconut milk.  The full fat version is full of calories, needed to get big, but barely any carbs.  Coconut is also a healthy fat.  You can easily make a 1000 calorie coconut curry, without carbs of course.

[Cormacaroni]

Is there a way to gain considerable muscle without the "eat carbs like a motherfucker" option? Even if it takes more time?

huh?

Oh yeah, it's just that the program was doing requires such a huge amount of calories for recovery that it was tough to get them otherwise. You can eat totally clean and do it, I was just enjoying being a hog.

[WrikaWrek]

Carbohydrates

carbs to gain muscle?  is the whole world gone mad?

Uh, of course i undestand that Protein is the main thing, hence why i diet as i do. I was talking about "bulking up considerably", because a lot is said about eating a whole lot of protein AND a whole lot of carbs when in bulk up mode.

I think Corma understood.

[Cormacaroni]

The amount of protein you need has been exaggerated by many too. High-protein/low carb diets serve a  dual purpose for bodybuilder types: it gives them enough protein to build muscle, and also helps keep them at a low body fat %. For that reason, people have got it all twisted up in their heads, to the point where they think you need to eat 8 steaks a day to gain a few lbs of muscle. You don't.

[The Fake Shemp]

Gentlemen, I have good news tomorrow.

[Cormacaroni]

You got laid and the sudden evacuation of years of love pee lowered your weight by 50lbs?

[The Fake Shemp]

I get laid all the time, that never happened

[Mupepe]

so today after work I'm buying a bench, a barbell, dumbbells and a squat rack.  and then I'm canceling my gym membership.  Feels good, man.

[Cormacaroni]

oh man, i'm jealous. I have squat stands but a rack would be so awesome. Especially one with a good pull-up bar. Yep, you don't need the gym for anything much if you have that. That + the great outdoors is really all you need.

[Kestastrophe]

Ya, I'm jealous too. Cormac, for tomorrow's WOD, are the squats weighted or bodyweight only?

[Cormacaroni]

bodyweight - it's basically a version of 'Cindy'.

[cubicle47b]

I have a sumo rack and a bench.  I'm horrible at making myself go to the gym, my preferred lifting time is a couple hours after the sun goes down, and I tend to take pretty long rests between squat sets so it's been one of my better purchases.

[Mupepe]

Amazing.  Fucking amazing. 

I got this...


The part that holds the bar goes up high enough for squats and shoulder press.

I have one of those deals you put in the doorway for pullups so the lack of a pullup bar didn't kill me.  This does pretty much everything I need.

I had some friends come over last night and we hauled it up 3 flights of stairs (a workout in itself :'(), then we put it together and as soon as it was done we had a dick measuring competition.

It was me and my friends Jason and Daniel.  Jason is a small guy and likes to lift but he doesn't have a gym membership or a barbell.  So he does presses with his dumbbells and he's limited on weight and Daniel doesn't work out at all.

We started out on 175 to see how many we could do.  Jason got to 10, Daniel got to like 6 and I did 16 and could have done some more but I said fuck it.  Then we added 5 pounds and I did 12, Jason did 8 and Daniel did like 5.

Then we started taking the weights down and Jason's stamina destroyed me.  He was able to get like 8 consistently everytime.  I started falling with 10 reps, then 8, then 6, then 5, then 4 consistently.  We did about 10 sets in all.  Just having fun.

Then we did some deadlift.  Daniel started out with 105 but did 20 reps and didn't realize how bad he fucked up til after.  I kept telling him "that's a bad idea" while he was going.  He figured it out after he put it down the final time.  Crazy motherfucker.

Having my set at home is going to be great.

[Mupepe]

By the way, my bench was only 100 and my weights only cost 140.  Totally worth it.  In a few months it'll pay for itself.

[Mr. Gundam]

Ran 11 miles this morning in under two hours. Half marathon is coming up in on the 26th. I sure hope I can do it in under 2 1/2 hours.

[Rman]

Cormac, have you messed around with gymnastics?  A lot of cross fitters add gymnastic work to their routines, but I don't know where to start.

[Cormacaroni]

Not really - just the basic bodyweight stuff like kipping pull-ups and some basic ring stuff like muscle-ups. Technically, that's gymnastics but it's a joke compared to what most people think of as gymnastics. Rings are worth buying for sure - they're about $50 for a pair that will last a lifetime. Great for pull-ups and dips, and very portable. I got them from here (which also has tutorials):
http://www.ringtraining.com/

 Like most Crossfitters, I'm starting way too late to ever be able to pull off the cool stuff you see at the Olympics. It just takes years and years to develop the strength, balance and flexibility to do that stuff.

http://www.beastskills.com/ is a great resource. It has progressions for lots of moves - even if you never master the ultimate skill, you can still make great progress with your strength etc by attempting the progressions.

[WrikaWrek]

I never had chest.

Like, it was bone and skin. And it has been months of effort, but i'm starting to develop a motherfucking chest baby

[Beezy]

Is it bad to do pullups too often? Like, is everyday too often? I just started a few days ago.

[BlueTsunami]

Is it bad to do pullups too often? Like, is everyday too often? I just started a few days ago.

I would think that allowing at least a days worth of rest to that muscle group would be best. The only bad thing that could happen is you'll impede growth due to constantly working the muscle everyday.

[Cormacaroni]

Is it bad to do pullups too often? Like, is everyday too often? I just started a few days ago.

I would think that allowing at least a days worth of rest to that muscle group would be best. The only bad thing that could happen is you'll impede growth due to constantly working the muscle everyday.

It's not hard to do pull-ups on consecutive days, unless you're really pushing yourself (i.e. doing many sets of max reps). Would you take a rest day after doing push-ups the day before? No, right? Then why would you rest after pull-ups. The only time you really should rest is when doing exercises that severely tax the whole body, like squat or deadlift. For just pull-ups, you shouldn't need more than 1 day off in 4.

[Beezy]

I see. Thanks.

[BlueTsunami]

Is it bad to do pullups too often? Like, is everyday too often? I just started a few days ago.

I would think that allowing at least a days worth of rest to that muscle group would be best. The only bad thing that could happen is you'll impede growth due to constantly working the muscle everyday.

It's not hard to do pull-ups on consecutive days, unless you're really pushing yourself (i.e. doing many sets of max reps). Would you take a rest day after doing push-ups the day before? No, right? Then why would you rest after pull-ups. The only time you really should rest is when doing exercises that severely tax the whole body, like squat or deadlift. For just pull-ups, you shouldn't need more than 1 day off in 4.

Thats how I would do pullups, max with a low-mid rep (5-8) but I would also supplement with other back workouts (which would tax it even further). Guess my suggestion is coming from that mindset. Your comparison to push-ups is very true though.

[Beezy]

I don't know any other back exercises. I have no type of equipment besides my friend's iron gym bar that I borrowed.

[Cormacaroni]

This is why it doesn't make sense to have 'back days' and 'leg days'. You get into this mindset of 'nooo, i CANNOT do a pull-up today or i will destroy my gains from yesterday'.  Life is not so convenient.

[BamYouHaveAids]

for some stupid reason i decided to take classes this summer semester and even worse i spend 10 hours daily in the classroom and am getting chubby. would it be harmful to do HIIT everyday? it's basically the only thing i can do with the allotted time in my schedule with the exception of weekends.

[Cormacaroni]

Let's put it this way: you'll probably lose the mental battle long before you lose the physical battle. It's what I call a self-regulating problem; when your body gets beat down and you need a break, your brain will get the message. Set a pace you can sustain for months and don't slack off it too much, rather than sprinting out of the gates.

Of course, you should fix your diet first if you want to cut the flab. It's been repeated a gazillion times ITT but just in case.

[Mupepe]

for sure.  HIIT everyday is a bitch.  You'll just wear yourself out and you'll pull the "i'll just take one day off" which quickly turns into 2 or 3.  It took me a long time to learn "just eat better, dude" and you require way less cardio.

[WrikaWrek]

I do zero cardio aside from playing football with my friends 2 to 3 times a week with my friends. All the cardio i need right there.

[WrikaWrek]

What the fuck, just tried some avocado.

Really? People eat this shit? What's this fruit good for again

[Mupepe]

What the fuck, just tried some avocado.

Really? People eat this shit? What's this fruit good for again

Wrika

My wife's family is always telling me to try it even though they know I hate it.  So I just started referring to it as "aguacaca" or "guacacamole"

[Cormacaroni]

Pussies.

Avocado is almost pure fat. The perfect food.

[brawndolicious]

for some stupid reason i decided to take classes this summer semester and even worse i spend 10 hours daily in the classroom and am getting chubby. would it be harmful to do HIIT everyday? it's basically the only thing i can do with the allotted time in my schedule with the exception of weekends.

The normal thing to do is to count calories.  The geeky thing to do is to wear a heartrate monitor and everything and measure HIIT vs normal cardio.  As I understand though, anaerobic respiration from HIIT is better for building mass but normal cardio like jogging or whatever is better for losing fat and building up cardiovascular health.  If flab's the issue then I guess you should just do more low intensity cardio but it's generally recommended that people do both of those.

[Kestastrophe]

Avocado is delish. I like putting it on the top of a burger, so good. But its pretty much good with anything

[BlueTsunami]

What the fuck, just tried some avocado.

Really? People eat this shit? What's this fruit good for again

Needs to be eaten with or combined with something else. Its pretty bland by itself but the flavor and texture in tacos with chicken is UNFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[Rman]

What the fuck, just tried some avocado.

Really? People eat this shit? What's this fruit good for again

salt, bro. salt.  kosher or sea salt.  lime juice or something acidic also bring out the flavors.

[Beezy]

Ive reached 10 pullups!

But then I dropped to 6 on my 2nd set and 4 on my 3rd.

[duckman2000]

By the way, my bench was only 100 and my weights only cost 140.  Totally worth it.  In a few months it'll pay for itself.

Eh, I'm pretty sure I had that exact model and it felt pretty meh to me, narrow and worthless for anything but bench pressing and dangerously cumbersome front squats.