2018 Health and Fitness Thread

[Accumulator]

I would prefer to do chest and back together, but that’s a bit much. I like antagonistic training. Helps keep a workout moving quick without absolutely laying waste to you.

Ah, makes perfect sense! And I sure hear you on how that would keep things moving...my minimal workouts take an awfully long time for just a few sets for that exact reason...gotta stop for a *long* time to recover after each set.

First time doing reverse curls. I added a forearm exercise to a couple of my workouts, to try and get something in there for them...

Heh heh, [INSERT my usual stuff about how great Wrist Curls can be ]

You ever do farmers walks?

Not really, closest I come these days is carrying bags of rock salt (it *is* a long way, but sheesh..they`re not heavy or anything). Sure not knocking them though! These days I`m just trying to avoid stuff that might cause/aggravate any issues and I never got anything beneficial out of them muscle-building-wise. What`s your primary goal with the Walks?

I used to do rows in the smith machine similar to how you’re describing, good exercise.

I guess I thought of them as "easier versions of chins" or something...didn`t really give them the proper consideration

[Accumulator]

512Detail- Beware of bargain-priced exercise equipment, especially with the Weider label jrock645 is spot-on with looking into the Total Gym instead if you want something like that. Not so much about whether it`ll hold up, but rather whether it`s something you`ll actually use once you get it home.

First, I`d figure out exactly what you want to accomplish and what the overall requirements are for *your* situation. Research research research! Exercise is a lot more complicated than Detailing and look how we try to explain stuff to Detailing newbies.

Given your recent experiences, I`d *really* look into this stuff before you jump. E.g., High Intensity/Sprint Interval Training was shown to be not only OK, but extremely beneficial, for heart attack survivors in a recent study..hmm, I`d be all about reading stuff like that and seeing if it rings true.

I know...wrong answer But I don`t have a quick/easy/simple one and IME most people go about exercise completely wrong (which is a big reason why few stick with it or get optimal results). Even those with "professional trainers" (scare-quotes intentional and usually deserved IME) are often flying blind, or worse, being told to do stuff that`s not a, uhm...good idea.

If I were you the thing I`d absolutely be doing is *walking*, maybe a bit briskly, but yeah..just walking. And researching

[Accumulator]

It’s far better imo to spend for the gym membership you’ll actually use. There’s no benefit to something being cheaper if it doesn’t accomplish the goal or you’re not going to be happy with it.

That`s for sure!

Eh, I`m an outlier on the Gym thing as I always do best training alone and have the facilities..but whether somebody likes a particular gym or not is gonna be *so* subjective that ya just never know!

But OK..FWIW, a younger guy I know (and consider very sensible) who`s just starting out getting serious about it recently joined a Powerhouse Gym. He has to be *efficient* about such stuff as he has a very busy life and he`s not a fool-around type of guy. He things it`s a *great* place, perfect for him in every respect and that sure got my attention. Dunno if they have franchises in our area or how uniform they are, but anyhow there`s something to consider if you want to try a Gym.

[Accumulator]

Btw I`ve made a new routine to check the emergency exit doors..

I never thought of that from a parent`s perspective, but that`s good advice anywhere. Seldom time to search for Emergency Exits during an emergency.

It sounds like you`ve found the right gym for *you*, is is somewhat local or do you have to go a ways?

[jrock645]

Definitely good and sore after that new split yesterday. Chest is more sore than in a while. Biceps are a different kind of sore than I can remember in a long time. Must be the reverse curls, or maybe the palms up pulldowns- one of the best biceps exercises that not many do.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Sounds like that split was a good idea Maybe it`s your Brachialis you`re feeling in part, thinking about those Reverse Curls.

When I do stuff in the Supinated Pulldown position I`m not doing pulldowns/ups but rather Bicep Curls..but still, similar enough that maybe you did hit your Bis doing those Pulldowns. Despite the reasonable-sounding arguments for doing them for back, they just don`t do it for me somehow...but I do use such positioning for my "elbows high and in front of body" Bi movement, roughly every second/third Bi workout.

This is the *first* day I haven`t really felt my Lats from Friday

[jrock645]

Frustrated today.

Had my physical Monday, labs came back. Elevated liver enzymes, and not just by a little bit. Supposed to be at 52 or less, and mine is at 92. Never had an issue before, and I`ve eliminated alcohol in the past month. I`ve been eating healthy, not just by macros but eating healthy stuff. No junk whatsoever aside from on Monday`s. Good news is my cholesterol was the best it`s ever been. But this liver enzyme thing makes me mad. How do I have drastically raised liver enzymes after eliminating alcohol? Makes no sense.

I`m hoping it`s related to a very recent dietary change that was causing some acute issues. I started drinking milk again last week, to boost my calories. Half a gallon a day. Probably pretty aggressive to do that much right out of the gate, but that tends to be how I do things. Body didn`t react well, though I think another factor was a meat marinade I was using. I cut milk as of today. I was having major GI issues late last week. Took a break from the milk over the weekend, labs first thing Monday, resumed milk on Tuesday. Had major, violent issues Tuesday and Wednesday.

Either way, gotta get an ultrasound on my liver to find out whats going on. Hopefully it`s not too serious. Frustrating, though.

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jrock645- Glad your cholesterol is so much better!

But yeah...huh, that *is* something about the liver enzymes. Hope they get to the bottom of it and it`s not serious. Maybe all you need is some...oh what is it?...St. John`s Wort maybe? Eh, no point getting/being angry about it IMO since that anger can`t be channeled into productive action.

You get your labs done during/after your Physical? I like to get mine done beforehand so my MD and I can go over the results both independently (well before my appointment, so I can do some research and have my Qs ready) and together (during). I always found it hard to have a good conversation right off-the-cuff, goes a lot better when I`ve prepared for it. And he started preparing better once he found out I`d be expecting a seriously in-depth conversation

In one fell swoop you added ?!?Half a GALLON of milk?!? Gee..that`s *1,200 calories* with a [crap]-ton of lactose! (I assume everybody`s drinking whole milk given the recent studies.) I dunno..I take in a *LOT* of calories, and I`m not very lactose-sensitive, but that`d still be one mighty big addition. What`s the idea there? Sounds like you must be adding maybe 25-33% to your caloric intake right there, or am I off?

..that tends to be how I do things..

Heh heh, oh man would I be reconsidering that But then I`m all about *very* incremental changes/progress/everything and you know how often I step on a scale

Eh, sorry...who am I to lecture you? But then...that "violent issues" you mentioned, I mean...that sounds..seriously not good. IMO people oughta feel like physical perfection personified pretty much all the time.

[jrock645]

I think the liver issue may have been caused by the niacin ive been taking lately. Id forgotten about it being hard on the liver. And i read into liver enzyme values. Mine is borderline mild, so its not severe at all. If it was hepatitis or something, its be over 500.

Ill call and ask next week, but Im treating this as a false alarm at this point. Just lay off the niacin.

As for the calories... gotta do what you have to to push the scale. Training has been going well, scale and image are progressing, so im motivated by success to do more. Obviously, milk isnt the answer. Maybe i dont need to be so aggressive with the calories. Ill keep shooting for 3500 and not 4000+.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Ah, glad it`s not *that* alarming after all, see what you`re told next week.

Huh, interesting about the niacin..I`d either never heard that or I`d forgotten it

How much are you taking? I do 1g daily even though the opinions vary regarding whether tweaking cholesterol that way *really* accomplishes anything beneficial.

Glad I (apparently) haven`t given offense regarding the milk..that just threw me for a loop.

Heh heh..[INSERT my usual lecture about long-term goals and throwing away the scale HERE]. But seriously, noting that I was *all* about "getting bigger" for decades, there can come a day when size/weight for its own sake isn`t a good thing even for ectomorphic guys like us. Carry around a few 10# plates for a week at my age and see if you really want to be heavier!

Eh, I`d just endeavor to look good, feel good, and remain capable of doing stuff..forget about increasing the numbers on the plates and the scale I honestly believe that I`m more satisfied with my results than *anybody* I know IRL who concentrates of those numbers and I`d pose down with any of those people any time.

[jrock645]

Yeah ive def read about it being hard on the liver. I did 1g 3-4x’s a week. Bef ore that, i was doing the slo niacin daily for a couppe months. But yeah, niacin can def cause liver damage. Like you said though, it varies and is debateable as far as how much and for how long.

[Accumulator]

Guess there`s no free lunch with the niacin either!

[jrock645]

Guess there`s no free lunch with the niacin either!

Ofdly enough, im not sure how much it even helped. Supposd to lower tri’s and raise HDL. My hdl was lower than last year, and my tri’s were the same.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Well, it *did* do what it was supposed to do for me and my wife, no question about that.

She later dropped the niacin and her HDL stayed elevated (lower 80s) but her trigs went back up. I could do fine dropping it and presumably reverting to my previous stats, but I kinda like the "oh wow, those numbers are great" so we`ll see. Eh, my Trigs were never high even when I was living on fast food, maybe because of the fish oil.

[jrock645]

Scale read 220.4 this morning. Officially up 20lbs from may. Picking up a bit of bloat, but eating 4k calories a day will do that. Have some thickness to my chest that ive never had before. Probably lifting less weight than i dis years ago, by a large margin, but entirely differwnt methodology.