2017 Health and Fitness Thread

[Swanicyouth]

Swanicyouth- Heh heh, I like that you don`t even own a scale

That looks like a nice treadmill! Does it incline, and if so, how high does it go? Our 20-some YO Precor is holding up great, but it doesn`t really incline enough for me (I only walk on it, no running/jogging, so the more incline the better).

How accurate do you think the speed is? Ours UNDERstates it something awful...I *know* what Xmph is, and ours is way off.

It inclines - 15 degrees or 15 %...Not sure which. Just know when it’s on full incline - it’s feels like waking up the steepest hill in San Francisco.

So funny - I had a Precore years ago. It’s was like a $4k treadmill some rich dude wanted to unload and gave it to me for $100. Somehow, I actually ended up breaking the frame on that where the incline mechanism connects.

Being brand new - the speed seems dead on. My old Sole treadmill was off though..The speed would slow down & pick up randomly on its own.

[Accumulator]

Swanicyouth- Ah, that sounds great.

Yeah, our Precor has that "what incline *IS* it?!?" thing too...degree of incline doesn`t equal number of that setting. Mine must not go up as high as yours though as I`ve never thought of that SF hill analogy...

And yeah, our Precor was pricey, glad it hasn`t busted like the one you got (for such a nice price). That low price is a good example of how cheapy one can often find unused exercise equipment too.

[lxjeremy]

Anyone on hear have any experience with an air fryer? We had some extra Amazon dollars and decided to get one recently. The first thing we tried was chicken cutlets and potatos diced up, and it was REALLY GOOD. You hardly use any oil like you would for normal frying so it`s *supposed* to be much healthier for you. In the reviews it looked like people went as far as cooking steaks in them, but IDK if an air fryer could ever out do the grill.

[jrock645]

Anyone on hear have any experience with an air fryer? We had some extra Amazon dollars and decided to get one recently. The first thing we tried was chicken cutlets and potatos diced up, and it was REALLY GOOD. You hardly use any oil like you would for normal frying so it`s *supposed* to be much healthier for you. In the reviews it looked like people went as far as cooking steaks in them, but IDK if an air fryer could ever out do the grill.

I was looking at them for for a while but the reviews were too iffy for me. Being a low carber, the low fat aspect wasn’t compelling but not having the oil tank would make for less mess.

Ultimately, seemed like you had to shell out some coin to get a decent air fryer and I just wasn’t up for it given the mixed reviews. They’re a neat idea, though.

[lxjeremy]

I was looking at them for for a while but the reviews were too iffy for me. Being a low carber, the low fat aspect wasn’t compelling but not having the oil tank would make for less mess.

Ultimately, seemed like you had to shell out some coin to get a decent air fryer and I just wasn’t up for it given the mixed reviews. They’re a neat idea, though.

One of the biggest things for me was, I eat a lot of chicken wings. I love chicken wings so much, but every time I eat them I usually feel just sluggish afterward. So I`m hoping with a few test batches I can get a chicken wing recipe down, and have it be much lighter on the stomach.

[Accumulator]

lxjeremy- Huh..sounds like you found something that really works for you! Wonder how you`ll like it for other stuff.

We cook our chicken breasts with a Water Broiler, with the oven on Convection Roast. That works fine for chops/etc. too, but it`s NOT something I`d cook steaks/burgers on, and we could never get fish to turn out OK on it either for some reason. But for chicken breasts (and probably for other parts of `em too, I`d guess) it`s great. But eh, I suspect my taste in foods is a bit different from most people`s

Ya know....come to think of it, I`ve never eaten a chicken wing!

[Accumulator]

So how`s everybody doing as we wrap up the 1st qtr. of the year?

I`m still working at balancing the recovery/frequency stuff with relation to Legs and Cardio. Seems a little tricky to optimize...easy enough to get good enough, but I know I can do better.

I`ve ramped up the WarmUp portion of my cardio a bit, makes the Intervals a little harder.

Been emphasizing the first 1/4-1/3 of the ROM when working Delts and Hams to better accommodate their "backwards" strength curves, and that seems to work well.

My wife`s progress had stalled, but decreasing the frequency of her (resistance) workouts seems to be working well, great workout the last time after *three weeks* of recovery (same as I`m doing with my AirDyne cardio sessions).

OTOh, the guy who cuts my hair claims that he decompensates if he goes a few *days* without exercising! I can`t figure that out..no big surprise that he suffers for overuse issues in various ways, and he`s only in his late 20s.

[Accumulator]

Just saw an online article about how so many men are dissatisfied with their bodies with regard to weight/muscle/etc.

Rather than suggesting that the dissatisfaction is a clue and that guys get it together and get in shape..."Our advice: Cut yourself some slack. If social media has you harping on things that are out of your control..." [emphasis added]

Absent some major health issue, why would those "things" be "out of your control"? Sounds like nothing more than an excuse to me, not that I see what Social Media has to do with it..

[House of Wax]

Suppose I should chime in since I started this thread and haven`t been in here in awhile hehe.......Unfortunately I fell off the wagon the second half of last year and pretty much lost everything I gained. Ballooned back up to 215. Been gradually getting back on the train in the last month or so.

The wife and I continued our volleyball play into an indoor league over the Winter, which has been good and bad. Love playing, so it`s been fun, but jumping around on hard wood all of a sudden took it`s toll on my knees. After the 2nd or 3rd week my knees started to hurt like hell. After doing some research on the symptoms, it appears to be Patellar Tendonitis. I`ve continued to play, but added in regular icing every evening which is slowly getting rid of the symptoms and feeling better every day. I also joined up with a men`s basketball league through our church that gets together every tuesday. I was on the fence about doing it, but my wife pushed me into it.....maaaaaan am I glad I did. After playing all through my school years up through high school and then in some rec leagues after high school, I haven`t played in about a decade. Holy moly does it feel good playing again. I`ve seriously missed just the competition aspect of it. First night was 4 weeks ago and boy did it shine a light on the sad state of my cardio. We play for 2 hours and about half way through the first game I thought I was going to die haha. Every week has been getting better and better though....one hell of a cardio workout. I also picked up some decent basketball shoes and a "jumper`s knee strap" the first week and have been using both for volleyball as well. That`s made a significant improvement in my knee issues. I`m blown away by the difference that strap has made. I thought it may be a bit of a gimmick since all it is is a band that straps around your leg just under the knee cap, but it for sure as helped. Initially my right knee was worse than the left, so I got a strap just for that knee. It`s continued to feel better every week to the point now it feels better than the left. Going to pick up a strap for the left as well now and I`ve found some specific leg excercises to help strengthen the muscles around the knee cap which has been helping as well.

We`ve also been working on cleaning our diet up. Eating out less and less. Doing big meal preps for the week on Sundays and planning specific meals for dinner each night, so there`s no trying to figure out what we want to eat each night. Helps a bunch to have a plan for meals every day/night starting on Sunday. Back down to 206 now. Going to sit down tonight and pick some dates on the calendar to have some specific weight goals to shoot for. I do much better when I have hard targets to look at to try and reach. Eventually I`d like to get down to and maintain in the 185-190 range. Our Summers get so insanely busy it gets incredibly difficult to eat well every evening and get workouts in, so I know I have to really bust my butt the next few months to make as much progress as possible befor summer hits. Just need to buckle down and focus on eating well and getting workouts in whenever possible all the way through summer because it seems like about July is when the wheels usually fall off.

[House of Wax]

Just saw an online article about how so many men are dissatisfied with their bodies with regard to weight/muscle/etc.

Rather than suggesting that the dissatisfaction is a clue and that guys get it together and get in shape..."Our advice: Cut yourself some slack. If social media has you harping on things that are out of your control..." [emphasis added]

Absent some major health issue, why would those "things" be "out of your control"? Sounds like nothing more than an excuse to me, not that I see what Social Media has to do with it..

Excuses, excuses, excuses.......That is ALL it boils down to for me and why I get so darn angry with myself when I let go and have to eventually start over. I know what I need to do.....I know when I`m falling off the wagon.....Have to just get disciplined and stay disciplined

[House of Wax]

BTW....can the mods update the thread title to 2018?

[jrock645]

Seems like theyre confusing and blurring lines betweenmaybe not everybody is meant to look like a fitness model, but that doesnt mean you have to be a fat slob.

[jrock645]

I got off track a bit too. Weight is up about 10lbs but some of that is some addd thickness in the shoulders from swimming. Even with the added weight, my pants still fit though not quite as well but some of my shirts are way too small.

Been back on it the last 2-3 weeks. Diet is in check, ketostix tell me im in a rip roaring state of ketosis- first couple of pounds just came off. Back has been acting up a little so trying to find the sweet spot with working out. HIIT tends to throw me out of alignment, so im taking a break from that for a bit.

[Accumulator]

House of Wax- Well, it`s one of those "if it were easy..." things. Good on you for getting back on track. That`s quick progress you`ve made so far!

Hey, that`s great about how the knee band lets you play basketball, when you segued from "got knee problems.." to "playing basketball.." I was prepared to hear bad news, but NO..you got it sorted out!

Yeah, the right exercises are *still* what I credit for being able to avoid knee surgery, so no big surprise that you`re finding yours helpful, glad you`ve found the right ones. And Yeah#2, tendinitis can be a serious problem when it affects something you use all the time.

Getting [ticked] off at yourself for not doing right....does that work in a positive way or does it bum you out? I [freakin`] *HATE* being angry/disappointed with myself, to the point that I guess I`ll avoid that at most any cost, though I can come up with excuses too and I do Let It Go once I`ve had my little rant-to-self moment.

Hey yeah...New Title Time, or maybe I should`ve just started a new thread back in Jan.

[House of Wax]

Getting [ticked] off at yourself for not doing right....does that work in a positive way or does it bum you out? I [freakin`] *HATE* being angry/disappointed with myself, to the point that I guess I`ll avoid that at most any cost, though I can come up with excuses too and I do Let It Go once I`ve had my little rant-to-self moment.

Hey yeah...New Title Time, or maybe I should`ve just started a new thread back in Jan.

Bums me out when Im off the wagon for awhile and get fat and lazy haha. Gonna do my best to use it as motivation and to pay attention if I feel like I`m slipping



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