The Health and Fitness Thread

[CavemanLynn]

Apologies. I didn't mean to sound patronising. I tried to offer advice, but wanted to make it clear my own attitudes, personality and experience may be different, so what worked for me may be too extreme for some.

 

The idea is not to cut anything out permanently; just to reset your body to s point where you can be more aware of the effects of what you put into it.

 

I enjoy burgers, pizzas, etc, but I make my own from scratch, so I know what's in them. Most people who find weight loss dieting boring would find learning a bit more about cooking, using herbs, spices and homemade sauces, etc really helpful.

[Monkee]

I used to drink Diet Pepsi a lot. My mindset was that I don't drink enough fluid anyway so as long as I'm drinking something then it doesn't matter. However, I knew that having weight loss surgery would mean I couldn't drink anything fizzy any more and it was a huge thing for me.

 

For a month before the surgery I had to go on a very low calorie diet to shrink my liver as much as possible (because it partially blocks the stomach plus I was having a hiatus hernia repaired). This meant that I could only drink SlimFast (or have one of their cereal bars) - breakfast, lunch and dinner - only have tea/coffee without sugar or milk, I could have thin cup-based soups like miso or Bovril or an Oxo cube as a hit lot drink alternative and sugar-free jelly if I wanted something sweet. No fizzy drinks or fruit juices, if I wanted a fruity drink I had to have sugarless squash.

 

I never thought I'd be able to give up Diet Pepsi let alone ALL fizzy drinks. The first day, I cut out everything and it was ok. Apart from around 6pm when all of a sudden my body must've had a crash and I threw up. No warning or a thing. I was feeling a bit off and then mid-conversation I just turned to the side and was sick on the floor. So after that I went back to slowly weaning myself off stuff. I had lemonade for a week then stopped. I lost 1.5st in a month and the diet didn't really bother me.

 

But the biggest change is that I no longer drink anything fizzy and even the smell of Coke makes me feel a bit sick. Over the last 4 years I have had the odd fizzy drink as I've been somewhere where that was my only option but I don't like it any more.

 

My drink of choice is lime squash. Basically, Diet Pepsi (or Diet Coke) was all I used to drink. I never thought I'd be able to stop drinking it but if I can then anyone can. You just have to put your mind to it. Is there any other drink you really like apart from Coke/Pepsi?

Edited April 16, 2016 by Monkee

[wandshogun09]

Hey, at least it's not energy drinks. A lad I worked with for a bit last year used to drink about 10 cans (no shit) of the stuff a day. He was a few swigs away from being able to walk through walls. Vile stuff.

I used to have the odd can now and then. Ten cans a day is fucking mental! The thing with energy drinks, aside from them being shit for you, is they never even gave me an energy boost. In fact, they used to have the opposite effect on me. I'd drink a can and just feel bloated and tired.

 

I enjoy burgers, pizzas, etc, but I make my own from scratch, so I know what's in them. Most people who find weight loss dieting boring would find learning a bit more about cooking, using herbs, spices and homemade sauces, etc really helpful.

I'm getting better at cooking and I've always enjoyed it. My diet is fairly healthy but I've always had a very boring diet. Well, it's boring to other people, I'm fine with it. I basically live on some combination of meat or fish, rice and veg. And I eat loads of fruit. Now and then we'll have a takeaway, I do really like Chinese food, and I love a roast dinner on a Sunday. But I'm a fussy cunt, I've always been the same. I like a few things and I never get tired of them. My wife thinks it's weird but she's used to it now. My mum said I was always like it, and a nightmare to feed as a kid. Luckily my daughter hasn't taken after me in that regard.

 

For junk food, I can take or leave chocolate. Fizzy drinks and sweets are basically the bad bit of my diet. My wife is really good at baking cakes and stuff, there's always a cake about the place. I'll have a bit sometimes but I've never been a big cakey person. Give me a bag of Wine Gums and a bottle of Cherry Coke though and I'm happy as a pig in shit.

 

I never thought I'd be able to stop drinking it but if I can then anyone can. You just have to put your mind to it. Is there any other drink you really like apart from Coke/Pepsi?

I actually don't mind just plain old water. When I first stop drinking fizzy pop and I'm just on water, it takes getting used to again but after a few days it's fine and I don't miss the Coke at all. Then one day I'll be at work and just find myself at the vending machine. Or I'll be in the corner shop or whatever and I'll see that bottle of Cherry Coke and think 'Ahh sod it, it's Friday'. That'd be fine as a one off but once I've had that taste again I start drinking it regularly again. It's pure weak mindedness and that's the thing that I think winds me up about it more than anything, including the health reasons.

[Mr_Danger]

I bought some caffeine powder the other week, one tiny scoop is equivalent to like 3 red bulls, that'll put some hair on your bollocks. Or do what the good Caveman has done and become Lance Storm, it's preferable to a borderline whizz addiction.

[Stunner]

What's the craic with carbonated water? I've settled into a half-decent diet as far as liquid goes nowadays. I'll have a milky coffee with two sugars in the morning, a milky tea with two sugars in the late evening, but otherwise I only consume green tea (no milk, no sugar), water and carbonated water.

 

Anyway, my ankle finally seems okay again, but I've been pretty disheartened to learn that in the period that I've been recuperating my ankle, I've gained nearly half the weight I'd lost in the last couple of months. So, certainly, something has to be done. I'm going for my x-ray on Monday. As I said before, I hope it's nothing serious, but I do hope it's something - I'll never lose weight if things stay as they are.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Stunner

[FLips]

Currently signed off work with an ear infection in both ears. Fucking agonising aren't they?

I'm meant to be in London for the orchestra on Saturday and I can't hear a thing.

[Slapnut]

Is there an easier way to improve pull-up strength other than just keep doing pull-ups? I can do about 6 on my first set, then 3 on my next, then probably 1 or 2 thereafter. I try and do about 5 sets once a week but I just don't seem to be improving whereas every other dickhead in the gym is busting them out like wanks.

[CavemanLynn]

You could try shooting for an overall number of good reps, adding one each session. Keep it below failure, so if you say you can do 6 on your first set usually, get 5 on your first set then rest. Aim for 4 next set, then 3, 2, and 1. That's 15 total reps within failure. If you get all those reps solid, take 5 as your max reps per set and add 1 to the next lowest set i.e. 5, 5, 3, 2, 1. Hope I'm making sense? I tried this a year ago and got to 5 sets of 10 over a couple of months. T-nation recently reposted the article, Russian something-or-other training.

 

Edit: found it - https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-russian-fighter-pull-up-program

Edited May 3, 2016 by CavemanLynn

[Mr_Danger]

Nice one, I'll try that myself. I wish there was a fucking privacy curtain on the pull up bars because I look pathetic busting out 6 whilst some young muscled punk is pretending not to laugh whilst I make sex noises reaching failure at such a low number.

[FLips]

Since my doctor told me I was morbidly obese, I've lost just over 10lbs.

Partly through eating better and exercise, and partly through being ill and on antibiotics that wrecked my appetite. Still, whatever works.

[Smokin']

Is there an easier way to improve pull-up strength other than just keep doing pull-ups? I can do about 6 on my first set, then 3 on my next, then probably 1 or 2 thereafter. I try and do about 5 sets once a week but I just don't seem to be improving whereas every other dickhead in the gym is busting them out like wanks.

 

Just do negative reps, they're respectable and you don't stand out as being weak if you do them instead of regular pull ups. They're great for strength and size but unless you're really skinny, there's no shame in not being able to do pull ups. The strongest guys in most gyms don't do them because they can't.

[Smokin']

Since my doctor told me I was morbidly obese, I've lost just over 10lbs.

Partly through eating better and exercise, and partly through being ill and on antibiotics that wrecked my appetite. Still, whatever works.

 

After saying you're morbidly obese, what help did he give you? The weight would drop off you if you were onsomething like clenbuterol and if you are serious about it, you can buy that online for about £30 if you don't want to, or can't, get it through the NHS.

[quote the raven]

Well i came quite close to 20 stone a few weeks ago. im getting older now so carrying that kinda weight cant be great fro my joints and heart. Added to the fact my son is servery autistic and has a habit of running away  at full speed when something upsets him i have had to start doing something to shed the lbs. 

 

Running every morning is chore, but im extending the range each day by a bit, drinking juiced veg for lunch every day and cutting the weight for more reps. i guess i really need to drop 5 stone.....

[Slapnut]

You could try shooting for an overall number of good reps, adding one each session. Keep it below failure, so if you say you can do 6 on your first set usually, get 5 on your first set then rest. Aim for 4 next set, then 3, 2, and 1. That's 15 total reps within failure. If you get all those reps solid, take 5 as your max reps per set and add 1 to the next lowest set i.e. 5, 5, 3, 2, 1. Hope I'm making sense? I tried this a year ago and got to 5 sets of 10 over a couple of months. T-nation recently reposted the article, Russian something-or-other training.

 

Edit: found it - https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-russian-fighter-pull-up-program

 

 

 

Is there an easier way to improve pull-up strength other than just keep doing pull-ups? I can do about 6 on my first set, then 3 on my next, then probably 1 or 2 thereafter. I try and do about 5 sets once a week but I just don't seem to be improving whereas every other dickhead in the gym is busting them out like wanks.

 

Just do negative reps, they're respectable and you don't stand out as being weak if you do them instead of regular pull ups. They're great for strength and size but unless you're really skinny, there's no shame in not being able to do pull ups. The strongest guys in most gyms don't do them because they can't.

 

 

Thanks both, I'll give them a go and report back.

 

It's less about shame and more about my own personal improvement really.

 

(but it'd definitely be nice to do millions of them, especially when girls are around)

[RancidPunx]

Strange complaint,

 

I've developed a weak chin over the last few months. Need to adjust my posture at my desk.

 

Is there anything at the gym that could help ?

 

 

Also, I've a neck like a stack of dimes.

 

 

I swim a bit so my shoulders are developed but not my neck.

 

Anything I can do to improve it ??