The Health and Fitness Thread

[Onyx2]

20 hours ago, Ralphy said:

ah nuts, i have an android tablet, but not a smartphone! 

You can still go out with it, just a bit clumsy to carry jogging.

[Nick Soapdish]

On 9/2/2017 at 3:51 PM, D@mm said:

Yeah that is true as I am 21 stone and if I walk for 90 minutes I burn nearly 3,000 calories, might have to do that drinking water first thing in the morning, I heard eating water melon first thing is good as well.

I walk for 90-120 minutes, briskly, and burn around 500. 3,000 is half marathon type 

[D@mm]

Yeah like someone said I had to take into account the calories I use up by doing nothing, I don't just walk 2-3 hours a day to lose weight, I do it to help with my mental health problems as a good walk and exercise is the best for me to deal with my depression.

[CavemanLynn]

Running is terrible for weight loss. Unless you're training to run for an event, don't bother - it'll likely be murder on lower joints and just end up pissing you off.

Anyone looking to lose weight, I really recommend getting into some kind of resistance training, whether that's free weights, bodyweight exercises like pushups and Hindu squats, or yoga. You want your weight loss to set you up for life, and the best way is to build a body that burns more calories naturally and helps you stay active into old age. Resistance work is easier on joints than lots of cardio, burns more calories post-exercise, improves circulation, flexibility and bone strength, and is infinitely more customisable for your body and needs.

The (albeit clumsy) metaphor is that, if you wanted your car to run more efficiently, you wouldn't just drive it around to burn off petrol. Yes, it'll get lighter, but it'll still be a banger. You only get a better car by rebuilding it, improving the components so it runs better and lasts longer. (Or buying a new one. Yes, hence clumsiness.) 

Edited September 4, 2017 by CavemanLynn

[D@mm]

Cheers for the info Caveman, off to look on google for Resistance Workouts.

[RancidPunx]

Good advice there in fairness. 

 

I think it was Ido Portal that raised a similar point , saying that the best exercise regime should start being able to lift your own body weight with squats, push ups, pull ups etc.

 

kinda makes sense 

[CavemanLynn]

The simplest workout I know, that has great benefits long term and can act as a good diagnostic for general health, is this:

Lie on your back on the floor.

Get to your feet under your own steam (no props).

Lie back down the same way you got up.

Repeat 5-10 times.

This'll tell you where your niggles really are, as well getting your heart rate up and greasing your joints. Maybe use it as your warmup before a scheduled long walk? Or as a regular morning waker-upper. It's really easy to add difficulty too. Once you can do 10 up and downs in a minute, try doing the same but consciously not using one of your arms or legs. The ability to stand from a fall (and potential injury) will come in valuable in later life.

[Chest Rockwell]

Started a new job with a great gym that's super cheap. Just had my first gym session in yonks. It was great!! So nice to be back. Will be sad when this contract ends.

 

(Tbh I'll probably never go again after the baby comes anyway, so I'll just enjoy it for the next few months!)

Edited September 5, 2017 by Chest Rockwell

[RancidPunx]

I'm going back on the protein shakes , I've used maxi muscle but have found it doesn't keep me "regular" as such.

 

Even when I up my fibre in take , I always feel a bit blocked up and bloated .

 

Are there any good protein brands that are kinder on the stomach ?

 

I'd be willing to sacrifice a few grams of protein per scoop for more normal poops.

[GlennCullen]

After indulging in too many beers and developing a pretty substantial beer gut, I decided to knock it on the head 2 months ago and sign up for the gym.

Since then I've been going at it hard 6 days a week, and taking the requisite supplements (whey isolate, BCAAs) to go along with a pretty boring but effective diet (hello chicken and broccoli).

I've seen some encouraging results, which have helped to buoy my natural competitiveness, but I'm looking for something to shift the last remaining bit of stomach fat, as when I do the old 'put the fat down' trick I can see some decent abs underneath. Diet wise, I'll stick with what I'm doing, minimising sugar, etc, but are there any specific exercises/routines people can recommend? Thinking of adding DDP Yoga into my daily routine, I've only ever sporadically done the diamond dozen, will any of the others be more efficient for what I'm trying to achieve?

Cheers in advance, UKFF hivemind.

[Arn Anderson's Darb]

Just needing to sound off somewhere about this and put my feelings into words because it usually helps me get a clear focus, but all advice and feedback is appreciated!

So I'm now in my early thirties, follow a very slack weight training regime but my diet is all over the place. That said, I'm in pretty good health generally even at right around 23 stone. I can get around just fine and even play a bit of basketball on occasion. I tend to have about three or four months a year where I diet and train well and get down to around 20 - 21 stone, and feel great, but then it'll fizzle out and I'll start eating shit again and get lazy. With that being said, I've had a couple of alarm bells recently (high blood pressure and some terrifying acid reflux while I'm asleep that has caused me to wake up struggling to catch my breath) and I can't shake the thought that I need to do something more long term. I'd love to get down to maybe 18 - 19 stone and stick there.

So far I've had a couple of ideas with regards to diet that would be major changes for me. I want to cut out sugar. Not cut down, just cut it out. I've seen some amazing studies about what poison it actually and I really would love to be able to do without it. I know this would be incredibly tough on me and am realistic about my chances, and I worry about failing at that and what it would do for my motivation.

The next idea is to cut down on meat. Now I've got really no moral objection to eating meat, but this isn't purely down to diet. I've had a lot of thoughts about where the meat is coming from, the quality of it, and how the animals are treated. I have a vague plan to have meat free days, but I want to make sure that when I do eat meat, it's responsibly sourced and good quality. I'm having similar thoughts about dairy produce. Any suggestions here are most welcome!

I also feel like I need a reason to throw the switch on this. I've got two things I really want to do and am toying with setting as goals for 2018. Namely, a Tough Mudder type event and a White Collar Boxing match. I could probably just about survive a three round fight right now but the 8 weeks training program they offer for these things is very tempting. I just want to make sure I'm in the mindset and prepared to do this before I go signing up for anything and regretting it. The Tough Mudder though I think it completely beyond me right now, as much as I would love to do it without making an arse of myself. Does anyone have any experience or advice in either of these? I'd love to hear about it.

 

As predicted, writing this has made me feel a bit more focused and I need to get a plan in motion so once again, any help from you lovely folks is gratefully received.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Cutting out sugar altogether is way tougher than it sounds, and pretty much unnecessary in all cases. Processed sugar's are poison, there's nothing about sugar in fruit that is poison.

And, if you are going to cut out, or cut down on processed and added sugars (which everyone should, really), then fruit can be a great way of mitigating withdrawals and cravings. I'm down to 13st1 now, from 18st10 on May 13th this year, and I genuinely don't think I'd have been able to do it without fruit to fill the void left by junk food.

Edited October 27, 2017 by d-d-d-dAz

[Nick Soapdish]

1 minute ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Cutting out sugar altogether is way tougher than it sounds, and pretty much unnecessary in all cases. Processed sugar's are poison, there's nothing about sugar in fruit that is poison.

And, if you are going to cut out, or cut down on processed and added sugars (which everyone should, really), then fruit can be a great way of mitigating withdrawals and cravings. I'm down to 13st1 now, from 18st10 on May 13th this year, and I genuinely don't think I'd have been able to do it without fruit to fill the void left by junk food.

That’s cracking on the weight loss. Well done. I dropped just over a stone by eating less and walking more in a few months. But it’s maintaining that’s key, not how quickly you drop (as my times on juice diets have shown)

[Guy Bifkin]

On 9/9/2017 at 8:39 PM, KJHenley said:

After indulging in too many beers and developing a pretty substantial beer gut, I decided to knock it on the head 2 months ago and sign up for the gym.

Since then I've been going at it hard 6 days a week, and taking the requisite supplements (whey isolate, BCAAs) to go along with a pretty boring but effective diet (hello chicken and broccoli).

I've seen some encouraging results, which have helped to buoy my natural competitiveness, but I'm looking for something to shift the last remaining bit of stomach fat, as when I do the old 'put the fat down' trick I can see some decent abs underneath. Diet wise, I'll stick with what I'm doing, minimising sugar, etc, but are there any specific exercises/routines people can recommend? Thinking of adding DDP Yoga into my daily routine, I've only ever sporadically done the diamond dozen, will any of the others be more efficient for what I'm trying to achieve?

Cheers in advance, UKFF hivemind.

How old are you?

The last bit of belly fat can sometimes be impossible to shift and can depend on age and genetics. At the peak of my midlife crisis a few years back I was training twice a day - roadwork, weights, kettlebells, plyometrics....the full gamut and I never got near a six pack.

[CavemanLynn]

1 hour ago, Guy Bifkin said:

How old are you?

The last bit of belly fat can sometimes be impossible to shift and can depend on age and genetics. At the peak of my midlife crisis a few years back I was training twice a day - roadwork, weights, kettlebells, plyometrics....the full gamut and I never got near a six pack.

In my experience, even if your training is on point, ab definition is predominantly diet. Cutting carbs to your peri-workout window is a start, if you're not doing that already. Imagine your body's a hybrid engine, where carbs are battery and petrol is fat, but if you've got excess fat, then there's petrol in the glovebox, the footwell, everywhere. Everytime you charge the battery, the engine won't touch petrol.

Adding more training to what you're already doing is risky, because you don't want to undo any positive gains by overtaxing your body, but if you do want to add specific fat-burning to your training, try using a finisher circuit at the end of your workout. There's a bunch of examples if you Google, but I use something simple like grabbing a medium-sized kettlebell, and banging out 25 goblet squats, 25 swings, 25 burpees, and 25 hanging leg raises quick as you can. That should be good for an extra calorie burn without affecting your other improvements.