2018 Health and Fitness Thread

Alright time to post results... 4 weeks ago today I changed my workout approach. Kept on the low carb keto diet save for my weekly cheat meal on Sunday or Monday nights. This past week, I wasn`t as strict as I indulged in some donuts on mother`s day(it`s a celebration!) since somebody brought them into work that day, and I couldn`t resist an oatmeal cookie or two fresh and warm from the oven. Otherwise, pretty solid diet wise. Made an effort to get more protein, mostly from real food.

Workouts were full body HIT style with 6 work sets followed by two sets of ab exercises. Did an A workout and B workout, both took around 25 minutes to complete, including rest time. 1 set to failure of each exercise. Also did a "C" workout which was a set of kettlebell swings and a couple of core exercises. First week was M/W/F, then realized I was going to need 2 days between workouts. I would warm up with 12 minutes of walking or on the elliptical, stretch, then complete the workout. Did two cardio sessions per week in addition- a 30 minute steady state on the elliptical, and the other day 20 minutes on the elliptical(to serve as a good warm up to facilitate a stretch), then about 12 minutes of HIIT on the bike.

-Results-

This is what everybody wants to know...

Starting weight was 201.8, finished at 203.8. Hmm, not necessarily what I was going for but here is what matters:

waist measurement(measured at bellybutton): Started at 37.5", down to 36". Ok, I like that.

Bodyfat%, as measured by my Tanita. Started at 20%, down to 16.9%.
*** Yes, these bodyfat monitors aren`t known for being hugely accurate but I do think they accurately reflect CHANGE. I regularly weighed/measured myself the few days before starting the log and 20% was a consistently given number. I have consistently gotten about 17.5% the past few days. In the context of measuring change, I take the numbers for what they are.

I gained about an inch on my arms, and gained about 2" around my shoulders. Thigh and chest measurements didn`t really change. Arms are showing considerably more muscularity- if you saw Sean Penn in the movie "the gunman," that`s the kinda look I`m talking about. The GF has been commenting on the muscles in my upper back looking much more prominent.

What else did I do?

Since this was provoked by "The 4 hour body," I utilized some tricks out of it. I used the PAGG stack, and also the chromium supplement and niacin before bed that he recommends.
I did some of the brown adipose tissue activation stuff he talked about. Even went to the extreme of filling the bathtub with 40lbs of ice and water and laying in it on two occasions. My bathtub simply isn`t big enough to fit my whole body in it, so I wasn`t real big on doing this. I have been doing the ice pack on the upper trapezius/neck area at nighttime.

The next phase-

Starting this week, I will be reintroducing carbohydrates into my diet on a limited basis. I`ll eat a grapefruit or drink some grapefruit juice in the afternoon for the blood sugar stabilization he talks about(and suggests for binge meals, which I have been doing). Otherwise, I`ll be taking a few grams of Vitargo with my creatine pre workout, and adding ground oats to my post workout protein shake. If I can stomach it, I`ll add an oat/protein shake at some other point in the day
 
Solid work!

My results are holding steady at just below 160 and down to 11-ish% BF. Note - the weight is fine; just changing the body composition.’

Speaking of the 4 Hour Body, have you tried the isometrics after eating? I have taken to wall squats and upper body pushes and pulls after eating or whenever I am bored at work. Definitely seeing more definition.
 
jrock645 & mjlinane- Glad you`re both making such good progress, and I really like that you`re not focusing on your overall weight but rather on the stuff that matters.

Sounds like you`re both finding good stuff in 4 Hour Body.

jrock645- How much niacin are you taking? I take 1g/day and there`s no way I`d want to take it before bedtime, if only because of the flushing.

Oh, and I`m a bit of a grapefruit fiend, have at least one every day.
 
I might sit down and read this whole thread. Just skimmed a couple posts TBH

Egg yolks. Don’t raise cholesterol They taste awesome. Lol. Refined sugars raise cholesterol as its processed via the liver or some crap. But cholesterol doesn’t raise cholesterol.

Nite time protein options.
Protein shake with some peanut butter to slow down digestion

Cottage cheese with sliced pears. Yum
And peanut butter

1/2 cup Greek yogurt with some vanilla protein and even 1/3 cups granola

As I’m older and have BP issues I decided to take health more s
Serious. I’ll list some that may be of interest of guys here

Ubiquinol am/pm (cardiovascular)
Vitamin K... can actually reverse plaque in arteries
Krill oil VS EFA (cholesterol)
Astralagus AM/pm. Kidneys and heart
Life extension bio-cucurim. (Everything! )
Magnesium biglycinate at bedtime

Phats


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HIIT session on the bike tonight. Got my HR into the mid 160’s and couldn’t get it any higher no matter how hard I pushed. Now doing the intervals in 1 minute blocks, with the first 20-22 seconds being the sprint portion and the remainder of the minute being for recovery. Legs were so pumped afterwards I thought my quads might explode.

Sat in the sauna after for 20 minutes. HR got unusually high- peaked at 150. Must have been from the HIIT.
 
jrock645 said:
I usually take 500mg-1g before bed, but it’s the slo-niacin so it doesn’t cause the flushing.
Click to expand...

Does the non-flushing version still do what you want?

I take mine just to tweak my (already great) HDL numbers, and the non-flushing stuff won`t do that.
 
phatkid77- Heh heh, that`d be quite a read if you started at page 1! I wouldn`t worry about rehashing something we`ve already discussed.

Yeah, I`m surprised how people still think that eating cholesterol will raise blood cholesterol. But then, heh heh...a whole lotta stuff that people believe surprises me ;)

If you want the nighttime protein to digest slowly, what about using an egg-white based protein? Between that and the fat from the peanut butter it oughta take forever!

My wife (and the dogs) take most of the supplements you do. I used to, but can`t tell any diff having quit (most of) them...get a lot of stuff from my diet anyhow (or so I tell myself).

What form of Ubiquinol and Krill Oil do you take, and how much?

Oh, and I wouldn`t say you`re "older"...you`re what, 41?
 
jrock645- Hey, I really like the sound of that max-effort cardio session! Maybe the 160 range is simply your maxHR..as long as you`re maxing out during the "work" intervals it sounds perfect to me as I consider that the critical factor.


I did one-minute blocks on the StairMaster this morning for the middle third (the actual workout part) of my cardio.

Heh heh, I *do* wonder what you`d think of reversing your work:recovery ratio and trying it my way ;) The time I [goofed] up and did one interval *your* way was kinda eye-opening as I hadn`t done that since forever.
 
So instead of 20 seconds work and 40 seconds recovery, what is your format?

im not sure if the niacin is doing anything or not. Wont know until my physical in aigust/september. Skin has been very clear here lately, though.
 
jrock645 said:
So instead of 20 seconds work and 40 seconds recovery, what is your format?
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn`t mean to be inscrutable :o

I do 2:1 work:recovery, so basically the exact opposite of yours; when I do 40 seconds of work, I follow with 20 seconds of recovery.

This morning was the StairMaster. After a progressively harder 5 minute warm up, I did 40 seconds work and 20 seconds rest, total of five times. That`s my "easy 5 minute cardio workout" for the StairMaster; on my "hard 8 minute day" I do 32 seconds work and 16 seconds rest done ten times. Since the Stair only goes so fast that`s my version of variety.

On the AirDyne, after that same warm up on the Stair, I get on the Air and do 2 minutes kinda easy just to get into the whole "I`m doing the AirDyne now" mindset and then do 20 seconds as hard as I possibly can followed by ten seconds of recovery. I repeat that as many times as I can while not letting my rpms drop below 80 during the work part and trying to hit at least 100rpms, even if it`s only for a few seconds. During the recovery I just keep it moving while trying to breathe. That "as many times as I can" is only *four or five* intervals, and I seldom do the fifth one, it`s hard enough to just stay on and do the 2 minute cool down (sometimes I simply end up on the floor and have to climb back on for the cool down after I`ve *really* recovered enough).

I added the StairMaster warm up to my AirDyne routine as gets my HR up there without wearing me out; doing my whole warmup on the Air wasn`t enough to do that unless I worked so hard that I was too played to really hit my work intervals properly. Since the Air and Stair affect me differently, this works better.

Those are REALLY short cardio workouts, huh?!? And I only do them every 3-5 days. I just focus on those work intervals being as hard as I can do. This works better for me than the longer sessions I used to do, which were also demanding but in a very different way so I`m really glad I switched even though it *is* infinitely less pleasant while I`m doing it.

I`ll be interested to hear whether the Niacin`s working for you. Speaking of Niacin, my wife used it for a while and it did spike her HDL numbers; she quit taking it, but her numbers stayed up there anyhow! No idea why, but I`m glad it worked for her.
 
Accumulator
I bought Red Sea or something krill and just got Kirkland from Costco. Take 1 am/pm. Talking more it says can have cognitive abilities
Ubiquinol. I get at Costco as well. Prob Jamison I think.
And egg white protein. I’m thinking that would be quick digesting. Just googled and it said medium speed. Ahha


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phatkid77- Wonder how much EPA/DHA you`re getting from those two Krill Oil doses. I`m getting at least 4.8g/2.4g, that`s my absolute minimum and I`ll often go higher.

Cognitive issues from taking too much Omega3s?!? That`s a new one...I mean, some of the Therapeutic Doses to *prevent or correct* that are way above the amounts I take; IIRC the miner who made that miraculous recovery was on over 15g/day for a *long* time (and yikes, that`s a lot of Fish Oil!).

IIRC, there`s something tricky about getting Ubiquinol/CoQ10 to absorb right.
 
I`ve been slacking on getting my butt to the gym but I`ve had very physical details recently so I`m not too concerned. And my diet has remained good (enough for me? :) ) If I have a long detailing day, especially mobile or outdoors I`ll usually skip a gym day. But last night I had the itch in the evening and ended up doing a light dumbbell workout while watching the Warriors/Rockets game. Felt good :)

jrock645 said:
Sat in the sauna after for 20 minutes. HR got unusually high- peaked at 150. Must have been from the HIIT.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. How do you monitor your heart rate? Fitbit or Apple Watch or something else?
 
Oh man, I went through enough HR monitors that I finally gave up on `em. Just couldn`t get reliable readings during extreme exertion.

No, I`m not using a chest-strap one, I simply despise how they feel on me and no FitBit/etc. Guess my mid-20th century approach to life kinda handicaps me :o

Fortunately, I was able to get my HR readings enough to know how it feels at the various levels; truly maxed-out is something I won`t forget!

What surprised me was how hard it felt *before* I was maxed. Thought I was working pretty hard, but eh..it was really just a good warmup level and I had a lot more in the tank. Sigh...

Hey, you touched on something I find interesting- how some people like having the TV/etc. on when exercising and others don`t.

I watch music videos while doing my cardio, takes my mind off the discomfort and I simply *hate* doing without. I listen to music that motivates me when I`m lifting (except for legs), sometimes stuff I`d normally find goofy at best.

My wife says it`s related to my Learning Style, but whatever it is I find it very easy to get distracted from certain activities and lose my focus. There`s just no way I could watch a game/regular TV/etc. when doing much of anything, don`t even want it on in the background. Too close to multitasking for me.
 
RaysWay said:
That is interesting. How do you monitor your heart rate? Fitbit or Apple Watch or something else?
Click to expand...

I use my applewatch for Hr monitoring, and the hand monitor things on cardio equipment. The two devices usually give pretty close to the same number- within 5bpm. Maybe not 100% accurate but close enough in the general sense id think.
 
phatkid77 said:
Yeah. Krill oil... I’d have to regoogle. But pretty sure it’s like 3x more powerful.


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Click to expand...

thats marketing nonsense. Yeah, the antioxidant in krill oil is good stuff but its not a total replacement for fish oil because youre not getting the same onega3 content. At least not in the 2 caps a day the label says to take. Theres a ton of different antioxidants and some are touted as “more powerful” but the reality is theyre not the same. Different antioxidants do different things. Its sorta like saying a race car has a more powerful engine than a F350... they just arent the same.
 
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