another fitness thread....

[SlushboxTeggy]

Endurance style lifting is also a great way to get cardio while lifting. High reps with about a 30 second break in between sets will definitely get your heart going. You'll also look like a crazy person when you're running around the gym to get to your next exercise and set it up, all in the 30 second break you have.

 

[BigJ]

J, if you didn't know, I've been paleo for about a year at this point.

I wouldn't base your opinion of the diet based on the experiences of your roommates, if you're interested in the idea. You're just as likely to head to any Crossfit gym in America and be amazed by the level of results that many paleo pundits have achieved.

I'll put it this way, I did a 30 day paleo challenge. I was the last person that wanted to do the challenge but I was deeply devoted to the gym and always had been. My diet was 'already in check' as I had eaten high protein, low fat, complex carbohydrates for the past 10+ years. I hovered around 13% bodyfat when I started the challenge.

In 30 days, I dropped 2% bodyfat, increased by deadlift 25lbs (I pulled 405lbs at 152lbs bodyweight), increased my power clean 10lbs, performed better in workouts, slept better, and felt better overall.

That made me a believer. When everyone finished the challenge and went back to their regular diets, I never stopped paleo. Now I make paleo work for me. Its possible to complete IF while being paleo or ZONE or any number of dieting philosophies, all while maintaining a paleo lifestyle.

Most people I talk to think that paleo is a dieting philosophy but its really a lifestyle philosophy. I choose to eat paleo because after years of research, I've concluded that although my body always looked good and performed at elite levels, eating non fat cheese (more accurately "cheese product") that had been made in some factory likely wasn't as healthy as eating foods from the earth.

Now I go through cycles of being extremely low carb on paleo by limiting my fruit intake and essentially just eating mounds of green veggies and by eating as many or more carbs as before I went paleo by loading up on fruit.

*I'll likely revise this post and make it more logical and less rambling when I have more time. I'm not trying to sway anyone one direction or another but share my experience.

Interesting stuff. Do you still drink alcohol?

I like beer so that is my biggest draw back.

 

[INJEN78]

i forgot to mention that there is a very wide group of foods that i absoltely hate.
i will not eat carrots,peas,green beans etc.the only vegetable i eat is corn,and thats very rarely.i do not eat sea food.i pretty much stick to the basics-chicken,burger,potatoes etc.
ive picked up eating salad a little bit lately.

also i will add that when im done with school id like to go to police academy,which is alot more physically demanding than im ready for at this time.this is another reason id like to start getting in shape/healthy.

 

[Briansol]

olive oil has a smoke point of around 360 degrees. above this, the compounds in it actually break down the good fats and actually make them hazzards to pulminary health. But it actually starts to change over MUCH lower than this... like 200 degrees. That's a stove top on like 3 out of 10.

using olive oil is fine for stuff like salads. cold, raw, uncooked.
and even a quick toss on lower heat for something like a pre-cooked pasta with oil/garlic, etc that won't actually be COOKED with.

but to pan-sautee, it's just incorrect to do from both a taste and a health stand point.

I hate cocnut too.... but i love he oil and the milk. i think it gives food MUCH more flavor than olive oil.

basically, always cook with a SATURATED fat. like butter, or coconut oil.

some of this article is propaganda, but it makes some good points.
Healthy cooking oils - polyunsaturated oils are not the best, often the most harmful oils for cooking


i'll have more to post on this later.... leaving work now

 

[Briansol]

.i pretty much stick to the basics-chicken,burger,potatoes etc..

This is basically why you're fat. It's all shit food with little nutrients. These are NOT basics.

You probably hate veggies because you suck at cooking them.

 

[BigJ]

Word. Take the word HATE out of your vocabularly and start trying things your not used to. You'll find a lot of enjoyment in different flavors once you do so.

 

[totalburnout]

Interesting stuff. Do you still drink alcohol?

I like beer so that is my biggest draw back.

There's two paleo alcohols. Red wine and tequila. I stick to drinking one of the two when I do drink.

I'm sure you've seen my facebook, I'm not a huge hulking guy. I'm 5'8, 160lbs and hover around 12% bodyfat.

I've been having serious back and hip issues for the past two years and severe issues for the last 6months, so I'm a bit chunkier and weaker than I would like to be since I can't train at 100%.

 

[totalburnout]

olive oil has a smoke point of around 360 degrees. above this, the compounds in it actually break down the good fats and actually make them hazzards to pulminary health. But it actually starts to change over MUCH lower than this... like 200 degrees. That's a stove top on like 3 out of 10.

using olive oil is fine for stuff like salads. cold, raw, uncooked.
and even a quick toss on lower heat for something like a pre-cooked pasta with oil/garlic, etc that won't actually be COOKED with.

but to pan-sautee, it's just incorrect to do from both a taste and a health stand point.

I hate cocnut too.... but i love he oil and the milk. i think it gives food MUCH more flavor than olive oil.

basically, always cook with a SATURATED fat. like butter, or coconut oil.

some of this article is propaganda, but it makes some good points.
Healthy cooking oils - polyunsaturated oils are not the best, often the most harmful oils for cooking


i'll have more to post on this later.... leaving work now

Thanks.

I'll have to look it up.

The whole 200 and 300 degree thing is where it's all fuzzy to me. I wouldn't know what temperature the stove is, so if its truly a 3 out of 10 on an electronic stove top than its much lower than I thought. I usually cook at about a 3-5. 5 in the beginning and then down to 3. The oil never smokes but I'm not sure if I'm denaturing the proteins and breaking it down.

 

[corvetteguy78]

You saw my facebook....
I lost 65 lbs in about 4 months without much effort. I started eating better and i did a boot camp 2 days a week. So, 2 hours a week. Sometimes 3 days a week if i could squeeze it in. I started at 289 and dropped to 225. I have since stopped going to the gym for the past 2 months and have leveled off right at 230, even through the crappy eating of the holidays.


Jump start- Stop eating processed foods. If it comes in a box, bag, or container of any kind, don't eat it.
This includes everything from drinks to meats to veggies. You can have plenty good meals without ANYTHING in the center of the grocery store. These days, I hardly even buy anything down an isle (to eat anyway... i still by towels and soaps, etc) Stick to the outsides..

Don't eat anything with sodium nitrate/nitrite, sodium phosphate, soy lectin, food starch modified, anything Enriched, corn syrup, any hydrogenized oils, and especially no canola oil. Don't cook with olive oil. It goes rancid at temp. I shake my head when i see all these chef's heating olive oil to sautee in. Such an amatuer mistake. Use coconut oil instead. Expeller pressed.
Don't buy meat from the grocery store if you can help it. Get grass-fed, anti biotic free, free-range animal products if you can.

Eat like that, and get 3 hours of high-endournace strength and aerobic training (like p90x style) exercise a week, and you WILL lose weight.

Being able to bench press 300 lbs is useless to me. Those are like the drag racers.....
being FIT is like road course racing.
Sure, you will burn fat (every 1lb of muscle burns 50 calories a day just to maintain itself) when you have more muscle, but you still won't be in any 'shape' without endourance training. Period.

You CAN'T just lift and be FIT. You may look good, but when it comes time to ACT with the body, as it would in a ring, in a tough mudder, or what ever pyhsical challenge presented besides stuff the worlds strongest man peforms, the fit person will win every time. And how often do you strap on a volkswagon and walk 10m?

Being fit is a lifestyle. It's not a 'program'.

I think some of you are really confusing the ideas of loosing weight and getting in shape.

can you change your diet and loose weight without exercising.... of course you can. I could eat small meals, take laxatives and puke after every meal and i will loose a shit load of weight. I will not be in shape nor will i be healthy.

It's not about specifically lifting weights. Again, it's about stength training. Like i said my buddies do marathons, tough mudders, iron mans, tri's, and they DO NOT DO ANY CARDIO.

 

[BigJ]

If your buddy's are doing marathons they're doing a lot of cardio.......

 

[Briansol]

a muscular guy with no cardio would die after a mile in a tough mdder.

 

[SlushboxTeggy]

Yea, they may not do traditional cardio, but they are doing it in some aspect.

 

[BrutalB83]

I think some of you are really confusing the ideas of loosing weight and getting in shape.

can you change your diet and loose weight without exercising.... of course you can. I could eat small meals, take laxatives and puke after every meal and i will loose a shit load of weight. I will not be in shape nor will i be healthy.

It's not about specifically lifting weights. Again, it's about stength training. Like i said my buddies do marathons, tough mudders, iron mans, tri's, and they DO NOT DO ANY CARDIO.

If your buddy's are doing marathons they're doing a lot of cardio.......

a muscular guy with no cardio would die after a mile in a tough mdder.

Yea, they may not do traditional cardio, but they are doing it in some aspect.

I guess I really don't know what my deal is then. I always keep up with my lifting but I hadn't really run much since the half-marathon I did a year ago. The other day I went outside and ran 6 miles, no problem...

 

[SlushboxTeggy]

What kind of lifting are you doing? Reps/sets, rest periods?

 

[totalburnout]

Here's what I think is being missed - there's more than one way to crack an egg.

I've been in the fitness community essentially my entire life. It's like anything, for any 'rule' you apply, I can likely find a counter point and an example of what that is actually a guideline and not a rule.

Here's a brain buster for you... I stopped eating just boneless skinless chicken breasts, brown rice, fruit, and protein shakes and went to chicken thighs, tons of veggies, and fruit. I lost weight, gained strength, improved bio markers. What mainstream would have you believe is that, that couldn't possibly be a healthy lifestyle because I ate more fat. What my blood work and athletic performance would tell you is that they can take their anecdotal studies that are generally accepted by the public and shove them.

Seriously, if you want your mind blown, go to a GOOD crossfit gym. They'll do everything for you. The good gyms run diet challenges, strength programs, metcons (short anaerobic workouts that increase your cardiovascular endurance without performing 'cardio'), physical therapy type movements and stretching.

Here...
The Outlaw Way

I'm not saying that Crossfit is the end all, be all program. I really enjoy my olympic lifting programs, power lifting programs, MMA training, etc. but Crossfit does a good job of blending all of those things together. There's actually a Crossfit Striking program now for including striking into workouts. I think for most of the people here, without the experience or knowledge necessary to build their own program, that a Crossfit gym or a p90x routine is the way to go. They're all planned out for your success.

 

[totalburnout]

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is a GREAT lifting routine for anyone who needs a template of how their lifting should be structured.
Starting Strength Forums

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program is another good lifting routine.
A Hardcore Look At Wendler's 5/3/1 Powerlifting Routine | Muscle & Strength

Again, my recommendation is that if you're lifting, that you also incorporate some sort of HIIT into your program. That can be jumping rope, running sprints, a lifting circuit, box jumps, whatever the heck you can dream of doing. It doesn't need to be performed for 20 minutes to receive the 'cardio' benefits that people were once believed to need. You can increase your V02 max levels through short, intense bursts of activity.

Hint, football players don't run marathons or perform distance running. I wouldn't advise that you challenge them to a strength contest, a tough mudder, a marathon, or anything else athletic based because you don't think their weight focused training improves their cardio endurance.

 

[DarkHand]

It's a variation of what's called the Warrior Fast. Sweet name right? I eat once a day. I fast for 22 hours, I feast for 2.

I have to admit, this is kinda how I eat normally, I just go with whatever my body says. A lot of the time I'll eat one huge meal a day. It doesn't even have to be that healthy. I'll be so busy that I skipped breakfast and lunch, no snacks all day, just a ton of water. Then I get home and eat an entire pizza.

Or I'll go for nearly a week eating really small meals, then go a few days eating 3 huge meals. That's when people wonder how I can be 6'0 122lbs and eat so much... They just caught me on one of my 'heavy feeding' days.

Being fit is a lifestyle. It's not a 'program'.

The wife and I did the Insanity program, basically just a crapton of cardio and exercises using bodyweight, VERY leg intensive. I gained 5lbs in 2 weeks and lost it just as quickly when I stopped. Don't know if it was muscle or just from the fact that I was eating about 3500 calories a day because of all the activity, but if you don't keep up with it forever, and go back to your old ways, your body goes back too.

 

[Briansol]

What mainstream would have you believe is that, that couldn't possibly be a healthy lifestyle because I ate more fat.

its pretty much the biggest myth in diets ever.

EATING FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT.

various types of fat (poly/mono, sat/unsaturated) are worse for you than others, in terms of the way they bind to your blood, but neither directly adds fat to you by eating fat.

A person who DOESN'T eat fat will eventually develop dementia and die. The brain needs fat and cholestorol intake to function.

Fat simply has a lot of calories on it.... almost double that of protein and carbs by weight. thus, by volume, eating a lot of fat leads to excess calories.


I eat a lot of leaner meats like chicken breast, good pork center cuts and tenderloins, and the occasional steak/filet. Fish every once in a while.... im not huge on it.

i have seeds every day in some sort or another than have omega stacks... flax and or sunflower. Sometimes in bread, sometimes just on my daily lunch salad.
I eat a lot of beans... lima, kidney, navy, garbanzos, lentils, etc.
i cook exclusively with cocnut oil
I put black pepper freshly ground on just about everything. great anti-oxidants in this that catch free-radicals.
if i use salt, i use sea salt
I have spinach and kale almost every day.
I use a clove of garlic and 1 onion a day, on average in my cooking.
i use mushrooms in most of my meals as well.
i try to buy organic where possible, non-gmo when labeled, and go to the local farmers markets in the summer for produce and meat when they have them.
I try to eat tomoatoes, but i don't really care for them much. a slice or two here and there.
Trying to eat more carrots, sweet potatoes, and
I have a few slices of an avacado a week. great healthy fats in these.
I use organic cane sugar in my coffee. I stopped drinking it for a while, but i all but fall asleep at my desk without it these days. lol
instead of soy, i use amino acid vegan substitute. it is actually very tasty. still trying to find a ponzu equivelient as i use that a lot with my chicken.

and yes, like anyone else, i cheat. I love pie. I have pie all the time. lol I'm not looking to be a body builder. I just want to feel better and hopefully live past 65. The old saying you are what you eat is so true. Since I've lost the weight, I feel a million times better. And frankly, the food i cook now is just as tasty, if not more, than crappy food. It's not PAIN or a hassel or 'eating grass' as many people make it out to be.
It's about eating stuff that doesn't come in a box. Spending 45 min in the kitchen prepping and cooking every night. It's not just eat NOW. It's about cooking with your spouse/so/mom/whomever in your house and then enjoying that meal together.
my g/f and I are getting into better meal planning and are trying to make one big meal on sundays, like a nice chicken roast, and then having left overs for 2 more meals, or lunches, etc for the next couple days so that on our busy days, we still can eat home made.
Not only does this improve your diet.... it improves your relationship because you're doing things together. If you're both not into it, it won't work.... but I encourage everyone to at least try it.

 

[totalburnout]

Recommendations;

Research flax - its actually not great for you. Its not as bad as soy or corn in terms of propoganda but I'd recommend you stick to fish oil to get better benefits without the downside.

If the beans don't bother you, no biggie, but they do cause inflammation in the body. Its why they're out of any paleo diet you'll find.

Don't bother on organic. Its been proven that there's only a few fruits/veggies that have any more benefit than the regular stuff found in stores.

Do continue to support local farmers and go to the farmers market. I buy meat and eggs at the local Amish market. I used to buy produce, until I realized that they were the same ones as in ShopRite. (For instance, there's a single banana guy in the area that sells his produce in the Philly market. I would've never known if I didn't have a friend in the industry that told me.)

Fat actually has more than twice as many calories. Its 9 calories per gram, vs 4 calories per gram in carbs and protein.

Carbohydrates lead to the greatest amount of overeating and over consumption of calories. I understand you weren't making this point one way or another, when you were talking about fat, but I felt it needed to be said. When I'm motivated and not working, I'll look up the graphic (its a chart) that shows the increase in obesity that directly correlates to the FDA's recommendation of consuming more whole grains when it revamped the food pyramid in the 1960's.

 

[BrutalB83]

What kind of lifting are you doing? Reps/sets, rest periods?

It's a pretty basic routine. It's full body, twice per week (Monday and Thursday). I have exercises that work every major muscle group. Some of them have a little bit of overlap. I mostly do 3 sets of 10 on each, with about 30 seconds rest in between.

I haven't maxed in forever, so I can't really tell you percentage of max, but I'd call it a medium amount of weight. It's enough to where the last few reps are challenging...