[duncanidaho]

There's threads on getting and keeping the nookie, as well as finances (thanks Roosh) so I figured I'd start one on physical fitness.

I don't have a gym membership, and really don't see myself getting one in the future since everything I want to do I can do at home. For exercise I teach a martial art class 2x a week, and at home I exercise in the mornings doing combinations of kettlebell swings, bodyweight calisthenics, or slow sword cuts with a heavy metal pipe (this hearkens back to the martial art I teach). As for diet, I'm doing this.

http://www.warriordiet.com/

I don't feel my methodology or ideas are the best thing out there, I found my current routines thru trial and error and recommend anyone starting out to do a little research then lots of experimentation in both diet and exercise regimen to find the balance of something you like doing and something that works for your body type.

[zorgon]

I don't think it matters so much what you do... the important thing is that you get off your fat ass, leave the TV or computer behind, and get a workout. I don't have any sympathy for the average obese American. It ain't that hard, people. I used to weigh 195 (I'm 6'), ate like a pig, never worked out. Now I weigh 170 and am in the best shape of my life. You don't just look better, you feel better, heck, you even sleep better. And yes, it does increase your sex drive...

I got a great deal on a gym membership so it costs me next to nothing, but you're right, you don't *need* a gym. No matter where you live, there's plenty of stuff you can do for free in your own home or outdoors.

My normal routine is a 7-mile run downtown on the trail every weekend (hopefully will bump it up to 10 now that it's not 100 degrees every other day), plus one or two 30-45 min weightlifting sessions at the gym each week (both machines and free weights), plus one or two 3-mile runs on the treadmill each week (on a good day my time is 23 minutes). I would like to get back to 6 workouts per week, including more strength training so I can bulk up a bit (I just recently lost about 5 pounds because I was sick for a bit; I was getting too scrawny). Was doing 2-3 for a while, back to maybe 4 now.

If you don't work out, you will be amazed at how quickly you can get visible results.

[Roosh]

I think exercise is overrated. I don't know about you but when i exercise i eat a lot more. Still i do one long run (4 miles) and one swim each week with some push ups and pull ups. I'm sure exercise helps speed your metabolism but i know that i eat whatever calories i burn.

The easiest way to stay slim is just deal with the hunger and eat less... permanently.

[Bernie]

I like exercising. Actually, I like being physically active and exercising keeps me in shape for whatever I want to do. I aim for cardio (running, biking, sports) 4-5/week and weights 2-3/week. I do upper body and abs one day, lower body and abs the other.

You know people start losing about 1% of their muscle mass per year starting around age 30. If you aren't actively trying to maintain/ build muscle, you'll eventually find yourself putting on fat as your caloric requirements drop with the loss of muscle. Your overall weight might not change but you'll become one of those skinny "fat" people.

Like zorgon, I have no sympathy for obese Americans. I REALLY hate seeing obese kids and I blame their parents. If junk food wasn't in the house, these kids wouldn't be overweight. Cause face it, no little kid is going to overeat on vegetables and fruits. And it's the adults who are going to the grocery store buying the food. Cookies and chips are incredibly calorie dense, so their kid doesn't have to eat that much to put weight on.

[Roosh]

Quote:

I REALLY hate seeing obese kids and I blame their parents

My little brothers are chubby and it is 100% my dad's fault. They can't eat the junk food that he doesn't buy. But he has trouble saying no in the short term, which is going to cost the kids in the long term. I've tried to reason with him but i've failed. Ice cream is a daily meal in the house.

[speakeasy]

(08-19-2008 10:40 PM)Bernie Wrote:  

You know people start losing about 1% of their muscle mass per year starting around age 30.

Wow, I didn't that that. Conventional wisdom says your metabolism slows down when you hit 30 and that's why people put on weight. Add that to the fact that they become more sedentary, work in an office chair all day, come home and sit in front of the TV. So I wonder if slowing metabolism is the culprit or loss of muscle mass?

[Bernie]

Your basic metabolic rate is the number of calories per day your body requires doing nothing. Loss of muscle mass will cause your basic metabolic rate to drop.

Example from Tom Venuto's ebook:

if man weighs 176 pounds with a body fat of 19%, his lean body
mass is 142.6 pounds and his basal metabolic rate is 1770 calories per day. Suppose he drops his body fat to 9%, and then he builds back up to 176 pounds, while maintaining his bodyfat at only 9%. His lean body mass is now 160 pounds with a basal metabolic rate of 1940 calories per day.

That's a 170 calorie/day difference. That's 17 lbs gained in a year if the 19% body fat man eats the same calories that a 9% body fat man eats, even though they are at the same weight.

Your weight isn't anywhere near as important as your body fat percentage. Increase your muscle mass and you will increase the number of calories you can eat each day without gaining weight. Just look at Michael Phelps.

[PRock]

It's really simple. There's no such thing as a metabolism slow enough to violate the Law of Conservation of Energy. If you absorb more calories than you burn, you get fatter. Eat less and weigh less. Working out and adding muscle mass obviously help tremendously, but for the lazy man, it's better not to over eat in the first place.

[Basil Ransom]

I highly recommend working out and bulking up. For ectomorphic (skinny tall types, with low muscle mass) types, it'll make you look and move less awkwardly, and will greatly enhance your look. I always wince a little when I see nerds with turned in shoulders, the shoulder bone sticking out weirdly because their trapezius muscles are not developed at all. It also makes you stand straight, making you taller. I got an inch taller from standing straight. And makes your handshake stronger, from gripping all those weight plates.

I've gone from ~130-135 at the end of HS, 6'-6'1", to 170 lbs, 6'1", Junior in college, and 25 lbs of that gain within the last 8 months. I want to get to at least 180 by New Years, and a goal of ~200 for life.

And seriously, do heavy compound lifts like squats, deadlifts and dips. These gave me a huge libido and testosterone rush, after months of doing small isolation and machine exercises. I say avoid machines except where necessary, like on calf raises.

As for cardio, I hear swimming is the best, and rowing on a rowing machine. Running doesn't give you a full body workout.

(08-20-2008 03:35 PM)Bernie Wrote:  

Increase your muscle mass and you will increase the number of calories you can eat each day without gaining weight. Just look at Michael Phelps.

Agree with everything but the excerpt above - Michael Phelps can eat alot without gaining weight because he's an ectomorph with high metabolism, but above all because he's doing hours of intense cardio a day that ensure he stays slim. Ex-athletes get fat not because they lose muscle mass, but because they eat just as much as before, but without exercising as much as during training season.

[broken]

(08-25-2008 04:57 PM)PRock Wrote:  

It's really simple. There's no such thing as a metabolism slow enough to violate the Law of Conservation of Energy. If you absorb more calories than you burn, you get fatter. Eat less and weigh less. Working out and adding muscle mass obviously help tremendously, but for the lazy man, it's better not to over eat in the first place.

I find that working out (lift/cardio) is much easier than changing your diet.

You work out for 30 minutes - 2 hours, and it's done.

Carbs, HCFS, processsed flour, sugar, et cetera is around you constantly.

[token]

What kind of martial arts class do you teach? I used to do Tae Kwon Do in high school but I'm looking for something different.

I'm thinking Capoeira. It might not be the most hardcore, but I'll be damned if the couple classes I tried out didn't wear me out more than anything in my entire life. Besides looking really cool.

[zorgon]

(09-09-2008 09:44 AM)broken Wrote:  

I find that working out (lift/cardio) is much easier than changing your diet.

What's even easier is to have a metabolism like mine... even when I used to sit at the computer all day and never work out, I overate ridiculously but still didn't really gain weight.

These days, I have to eat constantly or the weight just drops away. I'll go on vacation for a week and think I'm gaining weight because I'm overeating and not working out. Come back -- same weight as before.

Downside is I sweat like crazy... I'm not built for a climate with summer days that have lows of 80. Nothing like a big sweat stain on your shirt to attract the ladies!

[Trotter]

I've been reading some articles on studies that say a faster metabolism may not necessarily be a good thing. They've been linking longevity and youth to slower metabolisms and eating less. The jist of the points are that if you eat less (significantly) you can increase your lifespan by a couple of years and maintain your youthful appearance and staying ahead of the bell curve. It has something to do with slowing down cellular breakdown which they don't know why it happens when a person eats significantly less (somewhere in the neighborhood of 500-700 calories a day). Having high metabolism makes you want to eat more thus you don't benefit from the effects of eating less.

I guess for me that would explain why a lot of track stars and swimmers look like they're 60 years old by the time they hit their 40's.

[The Dude]

(09-10-2008 02:26 PM)Trotter Wrote:  

I've been reading some articles on studies that say a faster metabolism may not necessarily be a good thing. They've been linking longevity and youth to slower metabolisms and eating less. The jist of the points are that if you eat less (significantly) you can increase your lifespan by a couple of years and maintain your youthful appearance and staying ahead of the bell curve. It has something to do with slowing down cellular breakdown which they don't know why it happens when a person eats significantly less (somewhere in the neighborhood of 500-700 calories a day). Having high metabolism makes you want to eat more thus you don't benefit from the effects of eating less.

I guess for me that would explain why a lot of track stars and swimmers look like they're 60 years old by the time they hit their 40's.

Really? I don't find that at all. I did 100 mile bike ride this weekend and there were a couple of 70 year olds who could have passed for 55. I seriously don't understand why people debate this so much. Excercise is good for you, unless you are doing something so stressful that it damages your body- but that's a matter of common sense.

[zorgon]

The Dude -- the literature on calorie restriction is pretty sound. But we are talking about extremes here. We're talking about eating 1300-1500 calories per day instead of 2000-2500, constantly feeling hungry, doing almost no exercise, and being thin to the point of looking sickly/frail. (Trotter -- I don't think anyone could survive on 500-700 a day) It's proven to work in pretty much all non-primate animal species and can extend lifespan by 50%. The longer-lived animals don't just live longer, they are healthier at any given age. Studies are underway for chimps, etc., but due to longer lifespans results may be decades away. Human studies are very difficult to do because you can't accurately measure a human's calorie intake without draconian measures.

The mechanism of why calorie restriction works (at least in rats, etc.) is not very well understood. There are hopes that once we understand the mechanism better, we'll be able to activate the mechanism without the need for calorie restriction.

Does that mean we should all stop eating and exercising? No, I don't think anyone is recommending that. Even the advocates of human calorie restriction admit that it is an unpleasant lifestyle.

And it certainly doesn't justify the lifestyle of the average obese American who eats a lot of junk food and *doesn't* exercise.

[Trotter]

That's 500-700 less on average. Not 500-700 total for a day my mistake for not clarifying that.