Lets all Diet & get in shape - Page 12

Accumulator · 05-03-03, 01:07

PrinzII- Hey, that's some real weight!! Glad to hear you liked the "skulls". We do 'em with every tri workout! See how long you stay sore and don't work them again until the soreness has been gone for at least a day or two. We work tris (and most other muscle groups) about once a week, legs even less frequently.

BTW, it's very gratifying that you tried out my suggestion and liked the results.

PrinzII · 05-04-03, 05:16

I try to follow every suggestion you put out. The reason is that I am still learning this and want to learn more. Every day, I look in this thread just to see what you or civic2001ex put in here. As we speak, I am getting compliments on my weight dropping.

thomasfl · 05-05-03, 07:40

I wanted to mention a few things about diet that I learned recently and have made a big difference in my health. Eating alot of carbohydrates actually keeps you from losing weight or toning up. The reason being is that your body burns both carbs and fat as fuel for it's energy needs. Carbs are the first fuel that is metabolized. If you cut down on your intake of carbs then your body metabolizes the fat faster allowing you to lose weight faster.

What I did was just modify my diet not completely eliminating carbs or food that I like. I eliminated the following carbohydrates which is hard because the american diet is so dependent on carbs: Rice, Potatoes, Breads, Pastas, Beans, and Sugar. I noticed that when I went out to dinner (4 times a week) especially for business that I was eating terrible. What I do now is order a protein like chicken or fish and order two vegetables. Italian restaurants are hard with the bread and the pasta.

One other thing that stunned me. Low-Fat foods. My fridge was always stocked with these. In order to reduce the fat content, these products add carbohydrates for taste. After looking at many labels I have found this is true and am suprised at how many carbohydrates were added.

Accumulator · 05-05-03, 09:12

Thomasfl- Good observation on the "fat free" foods. Plus, most of those are so "processed" that what food value they DO have is severely compromised. Not overdoing the carbs and sticking to LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX ones can make a big difference if you're trying to loose fat and/or maintain a proper body composition.

But people DO need to remember that carbs ARE the best fuel source, that's just the way the human body works. The trick is to use the right ones in the right quantities at the right times.

PrinzII- Isn't it cool when other people notice your progress?! And you're doing it the right way, so your gains will last.

Now I'd like to hear that someone tried doing some squats! Hey, there's no better way to protect your knees than by building up the muscles that stabilize the knee joint. BTW, if I haven't already said this a million times..DON'T DO LEG EXTENSIONS. LOTS of bio-mechanical reasons why; they apply incredible shear-forces to the knees (and do nothing for the hamstrings). Skip machines for legs, do squats and Romanian deadlifts instead. After a few years of diligent leg work, I think I could drive a stick again, my knees are that much better! And knee pain isn't really a factor on the StairMaster any more (probably more important than being able to work a clutch

).

kgb · 05-06-03, 11:08

Last night I went up 20 pounds on the machine presses and 20 pounds on the butterflies! I took an extra day off to rest (and to paint my garage

) And last night felt great!

Accumulator · 05-06-03, 02:46

2001civicex - Yikes! 20 lbs, that's a big jump in weight!

kgb · 05-06-03, 07:01

That just means I was being a puss before I guess. haha

Accumulator · 05-07-03, 08:59

2001civicex - Well, I wouldn't go that far

But I WILL say that most of the people I've lifted with don't do every rep of every set as if their life depended on it unless they're REALLY pushed to do so. One of the reasons most people do their best workouts with a training partner. But hey, everyone's different. I KNOW I couldn't add 20 lbs to ANY of my lifts, not even if my life DID depend on it. Well, not without using crappy form, at least.

Tried something different for back yesterday. On my chins, I alternated sets between added weight and just body weight. Two minutes between sets. Did them without my large-diameter revolving sleeves so I could REALLY concentrate on my lats (as opposed to my grip). Finished every set by going to failure and HOLDING myself at the point of failure (usually about 1/2 of the way up) as long as I could. Also, I did the body weight ones REALLY slow and strict. Got good and sore, so much so that all I did today was cardio. Well, I think I will do forearms and some grip work

kgb · 05-07-03, 09:08

i am so sore today. feels good though

JohnSWA · 05-15-03, 03:58

Hi guys/gals

Here's a little bit about me. I'm 37 years old. I'm 5'10" about 165/170lbs. I used to run all the time. I'd run 4 miles a day and run 401k's often. I was training for a marathon at one time, but got hurt and couldn't run the race.

Fast forward to today. Again I'm at 170lbs give or take. I can't run anymore since my knees don't like it like they used to. I started a workout plan a while back and hurt myself!. I didn't over do it and I started out with light weights. I went to the doctor and found out that I have bone spurs in my cervical spine and degenerative disk disease. My doctor said that I'm too young for any surgery for the bone spurs and the ddd was slight since it was just noticeable on the x-ray.

I've done one major thing to help out my health. I quit my bad after work beer habit. I used to drink up to 4 beers after work every day and even more on the weekends!

I've cut my alcohol intake to next to nothing and feel a whole lot better.

Now for the exersize part. Maybe I should just walk daily? My knees sure hate the running not to mention my shoulder and neck from the bone spurs etc. I get plenty of exersize at work with all sorts of lifting and turning wrenches etc. I eat the normal american diet though. Three meals a day with out any major over eating. I'd sure love to get back to my old waste size of 30/31. I'm at 34 but I definetly feel the pants loosening up since I've kicked the beer habit also it's nice to actually be able to help the kids with their homework.

Any suggestions out there? Thanks for your help and I love this site! Man, we touch every subject!

John

PrinzII · 05-15-03, 07:30

Accumulator, how many squats do you do in a session. The reason is that I am seriously thinking about doing that in addition to the rest of the routine.

Accumulator · 05-19-03, 08:44

GRRR- phones were dead since Thursday...

JohnSWA - Sorry to hear about the bone spurs and the DDD. I too had mild DDD show up on an x-ray, but it hasn't bothered me any (I credit vigorous exercise). Walking would be a lot better than nothing, but I'd look into any elliptical training machine. Maybe find a gym that has one. They are VERY easy on the knees and can give you a great cardio workout. At some point you'll need to push yourself a lot harder than you can do with walking, so it's something to consider. I would've got one myself had my knees gotten worse instead of better (I credit squats for that).

PrinzII- So speaking of squats..how many I do varies according to what I'm doing (heavy or light weights). GENERALLY, I can get by with relatively few, maybe 3-5 sets of 10 (following a few light warm-up sets). Also do some Romanian (semi-stiff legged) deadlifts to help strengthen your hamstrings (very important for your knees) and some calf work.

When starting out on squatting, you've gotta go LIGHT and EASY to get the form right. This will take a while, but it's worth it. Form is SOOO much more important than the amount of weight.

Keeping in mind that you're a big guy, I'd still do a bit of work with just the bare Olympic bar (it's 45 lbs.) or maybe bar + up to 50 lbs. DON'T put on a bunch of weight!! You'll end up with the crappy (and DANGEROUS) form that most people have and someday you'll REALLY mess yourself up. Guys who squat 300 lbs. (or even a lot more) but don't go down below parallel are just fooling themselves and setting themselves up for debilitating injury.

Thumbnail-sketch of squatting form:

Stance- without any bar or anything, just squat down as low as you can go and hold this position. If your knees start to hurt after a while, you need to use a different (wider or more narrow) stance. Don't go by what other people use, go by your knees (this might change with experience). If EVERY stance hurts, then go with something that feels the most natural.

Maintain a "natural" or slightly exaggerated arch to your back. DON'T let it round over! Looking straight ahead or maybe up (NOT down!) might help.

Execution- when you lower yourself down, lower your seat down and back as if you were sitting down onto a chair. Your knees should be (and stay) in line with your feet. Breathe IN as you go down. DON'T lean forward excessively. Try to lower yourelf down VERY far, below parallel (that is, your thighs parallel to the ground). Ideally, your hamstrings should touch your calves.

Pause at the bottom (DON'T "BOUNCE"!!). Tighten your abs and hold your back in the arched position. Imagine pushing off of your heels. Breathe OUT forcefully as you come up. DO lock out at the top, then go down slowly for the next rep, again breathing in.