Lifestyle physical health/fitness thread

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
@Layell regarding quitting chocolate - I recently all but removed chocolate from my diet (the confectionary form at least, life is too short to not indulge in the occassional chocolate cake) and the best advice I can give is to start steadily introducing nuts into your diet. Not the salted rubbish of course...cashews, brazils, hazelnuts etc. After a month or so I didn't crave chocolate at all. I'm not sure of the science behind it but my best guess is that when you're reaching for a chocolate bar it's usually because your body is in need of a quick energy source and fat is an ideal fuel in that regard - nuts however are even higher in fat and far, far more nutritionally dense so I think my body just switched to them as its snack of choice and the chocolate cravings stopped. Whatever the reason, I'm confident it works so try it out. Be careful of course - nuts are very high in calories and could lead to just as much weight gain as chocolate if you're not careful! The plethora of nutritional value makes up for it though...
 
I've been pretty healthy my whole life, but up until the start of high school that was just because I was one of those kids with a ridiculous metabolism that could eat whatever I want and not gain weight. Admittedly, my diet is still pretty bad, but that miracle metabolism is definitely slowing down and I'm not noticing any unusual weight changes.

I owe all of my current health to joining the cross country team last year. I only joined because I quit football and had nothing to do to stay in shape for track (I'm a hurdler, which doesn't really make you fit aside from giving pretty impressive calf muscles), but cross country was great because it pushed me a lot harder than football ever had (we're top 25 in XC this year, no thanks to me lol). I wanted to quit pretty soon after I started, and that thought always enters my mind every so often. I've never been a great distance runner (my view may be skewed slightly by the fact that some of the seniors on our team have been getting letters from D1 colleges since last year), but sticking with it definitely payed off. My best 5ks last year were in the 18:15 area, but was sick a lot of the offseason and haven't broken 19 yet this year. I really don't care too much about distance times, but I'm noticing the hyper-seriousness of my team starting to rub off on me.
I'm 5'10'' 135lb right now, and am decently muscular compared to most of the skeletons I run with because I lift a lot in the offseason while they continue to run like maniacs. We ran at least 65 miles every week last summer, practicing 6 days a week at 8 in the morning. That was pretty daunting at first, but it eventually became habit, and I honestly would have slept until 10 most of the time if I wasn't running. Basically the hardest thing about running for me was getting started, and they best way around that is just to find someone as serious as you are (hopefully more) to keep you honest until running becomes a more natural thing. The only thing I regret is that I pretty much have no time to lift during xc season, and I'm always behing when winter comes because the track team has been having offseason workouts for months. I guess there's just no way around that, because I wouldn't run enough if I didn't run xc.


My advice to anyone trying to start a running regimen is to find someone to run with, run with music if it helps you (I usually don't because I just don't like it for some reason), and to RUN OUTSIDE to give yourself some variety. Don't just find one route: if you have multiple you can have multiple options if you get bored or one won't work, and I think it's nice to have different options to choose from depending on how far I want to run at one time. It's also important to not push yourself into it too fast, or you'll just end up with shin splints or worse. Also, as this may not be common knowledge, the super fancy running shoes that have a "natural" or low support step are a really bad idea for new runners. You're already putting a lot more stress on your legs than they are used to, why do it without the support that you've grown accustomed to?
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
jesus christ you guys are too goddamn fast i've done like a year and a half of serious training and my 5ks are in the 20:highs
 

DM

Ce soir, on va danser.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
@Layell regarding quitting chocolate - I recently all but removed chocolate from my diet (the confectionary form at least, life is too short to not indulge in the occassional chocolate cake) and the best advice I can give is to start steadily introducing nuts into your diet. Not the salted rubbish of course...cashews, brazils, hazelnuts etc. After a month or so I didn't crave chocolate at all. I'm not sure of the science behind it but my best guess is that when you're reaching for a chocolate bar it's usually because your body is in need of a quick energy source and fat is an ideal fuel in that regard - nuts however are even higher in fat and far, far more nutritionally dense so I think my body just switched to them as its snack of choice and the chocolate cravings stopped. Whatever the reason, I'm confident it works so try it out. Be careful of course - nuts are very high in calories and could lead to just as much weight gain as chocolate if you're not careful! The plethora of nutritional value makes up for it though...
Jumping on the healthy nuts bandwagon. For about a year, I've been having unsalted, unroasted almonds one a day for a snack, and it's been amazing. It fills you up a little, you get all those beneficial proteins and fats, and they're straight up DELICIOUS.

When I have more time, I'll post my own health journey... suffice it to say, "fluctuation" is a vast understatement. I'll just post this picture of what I accomplished this time last year (before my hip needed surgery):

 
I'm having a pretty tough time trying to keep myself running, so I get closer to goals. Last week, after a lot of running my feet started aching so bad that I could barely stand. It turns out that I have very flat feet, to the point where standard foot orthopedics might not do it, and I might have to go to a foot doctor. I've had flat feet ever since at least 13ish if not way earlier. The good news is I'm don't really have blisters, and I'm going to the gym 5 days a week, mainly just doing machines (mainly for arms, chest, and some legs). My hips aren't too good either when I do this leg exercise it, my hips hurt. I know all this will improve with time though.
 
quite frankly, if you need a friend to motivate you to get up off your ass to lift and reach your fitness goals, you prolly wanna rethink even getting into shape. just my two cents. its difficult to find someone who's at the same point as you in your exercise regiment unless you're just beginning, and i find bringing a friend detracts from your workout. not having a spotter for example forces my ass to be ready to lift heavy or else i wont hit the rep counts, whereas if i know i have a spotter im more likely to lean on him for the last few reps. its all psychological. people can feel free to disagree with me, but the main point still stands - if you wont go to the gym alone but you will with a friend, you gotta set your priorities straight

also, theres no such thing as toning, dont give a fuck if its a guy or girl that says it. if you're serious about getting into shape then i suggest you try and sound somewhat knowledgeable and like you did your research, as 99% of people don't and thats why they dont reach their fitness goals.

steeldragon, avoid machines as they limit your range of motion and dont even hit most of the muscles that they aim to target as a result. stick to compound lifts with the barbell.

most important thing when it comes to motivation, which also in turn results in going to the gym being fun - you have to want it bad enough. not because someone else looks good, not because you envy others, not because you wanna be on the cover of that magazine, but because you want to get in shape. the motivation and the routine will follow once you have a clearcut goal and actually wanna achieve it. ive seen people kill it in the gym and in the kitchen but blow it all on the weekends getting plastered - misalignment of goals, you didnt want it enough. consider getting into shape a full time job (especially if you're not in good shape and you want to get into good shape) - you mess up and you digress in achieving your goals. once you reach your fitness goals, you have much more room to maneuver (drink, eat out, etc), but until you're not satisfied with your goals, you should be as dedicated to this as you are to other priorities in life (if you want it badly enough, again)

if any of this was unclear, sorry drunk. and yes i can drink cause ive reached my fitness goals.
 

Venom

red eyes no visine
is a Team Rater Alumnus
training almost 2 times a day..today was pretty much this: wake up, shower, eat, train, work, train shower, typing this right now, sleep. knee is still giving problems physically, but not mentally.

repeat tomorrow
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
@Venom: I feel you man. With the beginning of school I've been on a hectic and very stressful "suffocating" schedule. All I literarily have time for is school, gym and work. Sometimes (like today) I have to sacrifice some sleep just to get those 3 things accomplished. I only have 1 rest day, and thank God it's only 2 days away (Sundays). I am taking steps to give myself some breathing room in my schedule or else I know a big crash is coming soon, not even from my body, but from the stress of maintaining such a schedule.

anyways, IN OTHER NEWS, I have decided to start my bulk early. I was just too excited I couldn't wait any longer. I think it's time I started to take what popomobile has been trying to tell me a little more seriously. winter is coming, so for now fuck abs and fuck definition. It's time to put on some size so when I cut again in the future I'll have a little more muscle to show for. So I guess I'll kiss my current body goodbye for now, until next year when winter is over, and say hello to something completely new. I am on the phone heading to the gym at the moment so I won't go much into detail about my "bulk phase" plans and or questions/concerns, but I'll say this; I'm starting slow by eating only a surplus of 300 calories. I plan to keep up with cardio and not use this as an excuse to stop cardio. I also plan to not use this as an excuse to eat whatever the fack I want. I hope to maintain a clean bulk. Most importantly I hope to learn quite a bit during my bulk.
 
About the most healthy thing I do is drink water, outside of that I am a fat pig, and I don't really care about it at all.

But while I am here, I do have on question. In college, for some reason, they tend to serve a lot of foods without potassium for some odd reason, I often find myself shaking if I don't eat my daily banana. To make matters worse, they don't serve bananas all the time. So what are some regular foods with high potassium outside of bananas that I can eat. Keep in mind, I am a fatso so don't suggest like beats of a green salad, is deep fried steak has enough potassium, give me that.
 
30g unsalted peanuts = 203mg Potassium

potassium dv on 2kcal diet = 3.5kmg

so with basically two handfuls of peanuts you can hit about 1/7 g of dv

medium banana about 422 mg potassium, so two handfuls peanuts = 1 banana

plus lots of other nutrition!

further consideration: pistachios (100g pistachios = ~1000 mg potassium)
sunflower seeds (30 g = ~182 mg potassium)
tuna (55g = ~180 mg potassium, also includes several other health benefits including omega 3 / 6 fats and more!)
black beans (most beans, really) (1 cup black beans = ~600 mg potassium)

there's not really a lot of bad stuff that's high in potassium

also i think the dv for it is set on hitting those huge numbers of veggies per day (since potassium is really high in veggies and you're pretty much not going to hit 3.5k if you aren't eating some of these healthy foods)

imo go for mixed nuts (trail mix comes with chocolate! 40g M&Ms = ~100mg potassium in addition to the nuts!)

that's all i've got bro
 

Scimjara

Bert Stare
is a Tutor Alumnus
Started to intermittent fast for the past month.
16 hour fast 8 hour eating window.

Getting lean . Love the workouts on empty stomach and being able to burn a fatty and eat 3k cals in one sitting.
 
Molasses has a ton of potassium (maybe only a certain type of it, I forget). I think raisins are a good source too. And potatoes, as long as you eat the skin.
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Ok maybe it wasnt the best idea for me to remain quite. Earlier on there was some bashing going on after Fishy said she wanted to "tone" up as her goal at the moment. I originally planned on saying something after a few users not neccesarily bashed her, but her goal. But I decided not to say anything after Lee touched on the matter. However after going through this last page and reading the posts I previously missed, I noticed that the bashing was still going on.

also, theres no such thing as toning, dont give a fuck if its a guy or girl that says it. if you're serious about getting into shape then i suggest you try and sound somewhat knowledgeable and like you did your research, as 99% of people don't and thats why they dont reach their fitness goals.
.
Ok so my question to Nosferalto, popomobile and anyone else that posted/feels so strongly against the word "tone" is this: why? Please expand on your posts instead of posting 1 or 2 lines that do nothing to inform, and only put down anyone with a similar goal to fishys.

Please remember that this thread was created to not only be a friendly and encouraging environment for people of all levels in fitness, but ALSO A PLACE TO LEARN. so please do expand and give real and informative responses when you see someone post a goal or something that you feel is a waste of time or outdated. I encourage you to even go a step further and suggest what you feel is the better and more current/proven way to go about achieving his or her goals. What I don't want to see are people picking other people fitness goals apart or putting anyone down for the reason that is basically "you sound like a noob and don't know what you are doing". If you can't take the time to explain yourself, then don't bother posting that 1 or 2 lines that only bash others and thier goals. That post will be deleted the moment I see it in the future
 

Fishy

tits McGee (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)
goddamn, just googled "pistol squats" which lead me to a youtube video… i want to do THAT.

grocery store tomorrow (todaY? oops) and getting things started on monday. really excited! most of my work out is dedicated to core/butt/legs, but there are all-body days and segments on random days, so at the end of two months I'll definitely see an improvement everywhere.

also, before anyone gets any antsier in this thread: "TONING"

so dictionary dabblers, this is what I want to do to my body: I want to improve my musculature, increasing muscle mass and decreasing what little fat I don't need superficially. granted, that's not very much, so I'm mostly going for stronger and more defined muscles!!! the regimen I have will give me exactly what I want, so long as I stick with it and don't skimp on any days, and I'm so ready for it. my biggest problem right now is probably not eating 3 meals a day each day, and basically having a fucked up appetite since my sleep schedule is also fucked. but I've got a long weekend ahead, so as well as relaxing I'm going to get my body back to a normal rhythm, and start to p-p-push it real good come monday. excited!
 
unfortunately you can't increase muscle mass and decrease body fat at the same time, as one requires a caloric surplus and one requires a caloric deficit. much better to focus on one at a time
 

DM

Ce soir, on va danser.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Having lean muscle mass on your body will naturally burn fat during your down time.
 
Having moved houses, I'm finally close to a good gym and wanted to put on muscle, going with a goal of 10 lbs of muscle in 3-5 months, being a complete beginner at weightlifting. The problem is that my body type is of the type where I am naturally thin and its tough for me to gain weight / muscle, which after some searching is an ectomorph. I'd like to get some tips and pointing in the right direction to be able to achieve my goal such as workouts and what to eat. I'm 16 years old, 5 ft 9 160 lbs. I weigh on the higher end of the healthy range of the BMI, but I look like I weigh less than my weight suggests. Also, is it possible to include calisthenics in weights workouts, as I hear they are better at building strength? If so, then how would I incorporate them into a weights workout / routine? And is it possible to achieve 10 lbs of muscle with ONLY calisthenics? I also heard about GOMAD, any experiences you guys have had with that? I'd generally want to put on muscle without putting on too much fat, but if it's usually easier to go with the the approach of putting on fat along with muscle, then I'll do that, since iirc it's easier for ectomorphs to lose fat.
 
Having lean muscle mass on your body will naturally burn fat during your down time.
meaning you won't be putting on more muscle unless you eat more to compensate for it, and you won't build the lean muscle mass in the first place if you're losing weight

you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time
 

DM

Ce soir, on va danser.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
I really don't see how you see fat burning and muscle building as 100% mutually exclusive activities. That just isn't reality. It is entirely possible to build lean muscle while you're cutting down, I do it all the time. If you want to build SERIOUS muscle, the the kind you're obviously concerned with, then yes, you'd better have a bulking diet planned.
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/f/losefatgainmusc.htm

However, the average exerciser looking to improve body composition can lose fat while improving lean body tissue over time and beginners will likely get the greatest benefits of both fat loss and muscle gain. In fact, one study found that women who followed a cardio and strength program for 6 months lost an average of 10 percent body fat while increasing their muscle by about 2.2 percent, while another study showed that men experience similar improvements after following a 16-week strength training program.
aforementioned study:

http://exercise.about.com/gi/o.htm?...u=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10846043
 

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