Fitness/Diet Accountability Thread

[BPPLEE]

I’m focusing on the journey, working out to get better at working out. Not just thinking about losing another 50 pounds. For me, the workout is my sport. Lifting more weight, doing more reps, resting less and increasing intensity are my goals. The workout is not just a means to an end, the workout is the goal.

 

[FireDragon76]

I’m focusing on the journey, working out to get better at working out. Not just thinking about losing another 50 pounds. For me, the workout is my sport. Lifting more weight, doing more reps, resting less and increasing intensity are my goals. The workout is not just a means to an end, the workout is the goal.

Most people try to change everything about their lives all at once, instead of focusing on small improvements as goals.

If you are training consistently, that's the most important thing. According to Dr. Stephen Seiler, an exercise physiologist in Norway, consistency is the most important aspect of physical fitness, and it's the main reason that most people fail to meet any of their physical fitness goals.

 

[BPPLEE]

Most people try to change everything about their lives all at once, instead of focusing on small improvements as goals.

If you are training consistently, that's the most important thing. According to Dr. Stephen Seiler, an exercise physiologist in Norway, consistency is the most important aspect of physical fitness, and it's the main reason that most people fail to meet any of their physical fitness goals.

I agree. I’ve found that when I lack motivation, instead of skipping a workout it’s better to just do something and after I get started I usually feel like working out.
By doing something, you establish a habit. A brief workout is better than no workout.

 

[FireDragon76]

Just did a 400 rep Mace workout followed by a quick session with the BodyBlade. I will work Shoulders and Triceps later today.

Have you ever tried light club swinging (2 lb. or less?) I only use one club usually but it seems to burn more calories than walking. I'd imagine swinging two clubs would burn even more calories.

Heavy club swinging seems to be popular at the moment, but light clubs have benefits for joint health and mobility too, not to mention they can be decent cardiovascular exercise.

 

[BPPLEE]

Have you ever tried light club swinging (2 lb. or less?) I only use one club usually but it seems to burn more calories than walking. I'd imagine swinging two clubs would burn even more calories.

Heavy club swinging seems to be popular at the moment, but light clubs have benefits for joint health and mobility too, not to mention they can be decent cardiovascular exercise.

I have 5,10 and 15 pounds, 2 each. I use 2 for swings, with the 5 and 10 pound I bring the swing all the way to overhead

 

[FireDragon76]

I have 5,10 and 15 pounds, 2 each. I use 2 for swings, with the 5 and 10 pound I bring the swing all the way to overhead

You could probably manage 1 lb club swinging for a half hour or more.

I got my heart rate up to an average of 110 bpm doing 1lb club swings for twenty minutes. That's pretty good considering my walking heart rate is usually around 90-100.

 

[BPPLEE]

You could probably manage 1 lb club swinging for a half hour or more.

I got my heart rate up to an average of 110 bpm doing 1lb club swings for twenty minutes. That's pretty good considering my walking heart rate is usually around 90-100.

I saw some clubs made of hard plastic and I am thinking about ordering a one or two pound set.

 

[FireDragon76]

I saw some clubs made of hard plastic and I am thinking about ordering a one or two pound set.

I have some plastic 1lb clubs also. They feel about 20 percent heavier to swing than my vintage Spalding wooden clubs, due to the way they are weighted.

So, I would go for the one 1lb club if you go for the plastic club, maybe the 2lb club if you have well-conditioned shoulders already. With light club work, the focus is on speed and good form.

This guy is demonstrating light club exercises. The exercise at the beginning with the external shoulder rotation is actually a very old one that I use alot. It's different from the modern heavier clubs that are being swung more like kettle bells and emphasize more explosive power.

 

[BPPLEE]

I have some plastic 1lb clubs also. They feel about 20 percent heavier to swing than my vintage Spalding wooden clubs, due to the way they are weighted.

So, I would go for the one 1lb club if you go for the plastic club, maybe the 2lb club if you have well-conditioned shoulders already. With light club work, the focus is on speed and good form.

This guy is demonstrating light club exercises. The exercise at the beginning with the external shoulder rotation is actually a very old one that I use alot. It's different from the modern heavier clubs that are being swung more like kettle bells and emphasize more explosive power.

Great info

 

[BPPLEE]

I have some plastic 1lb clubs also. They feel about 20 percent heavier to swing than my vintage Spalding wooden clubs, due to the way they are weighted.

So, I would go for the one 1lb club if you go for the plastic club, maybe the 2lb club if you have well-conditioned shoulders already. With light club work, the focus is on speed and good form.

This guy is demonstrating light club exercises. The exercise at the beginning with the external shoulder rotation is actually a very old one that I use alot. It's different from the modern heavier clubs that are being swung more like kettle bells and emphasize more explosive power.

Did I share this Indian Club video with you?

 

[FireDragon76]

Did I share this Indian Club video with you?

I think you may have.

He's slowing down the motion alot for instructional purposes, but once you get more of a flow going, you're going to naturally modify the movements and pick up speed.

I've been looking into maybe finding some old books about using Indian clubs, just because I like to learn through reading.

 

[FireDragon76]

I think I'm starting to really get over COVID. My heart rate variability this morning was alot better. I got in a few thousand steps extra. I also did some club swinging and got my heart rate up into a low aerobic zone, and there wasn't any fatigue afterwards. I checked my heart rate variability afterwards and it was still good.

I got my Garmin Venu SQ watch today, and I gave my older fitness tracker to my S.O. The watch seems to work fine, even though it's refurbished, and I am still learning the ins and outs: the feature set and menus are thick and complicated as compared to the basic Huami fitness bands like Amazfit or Xiaomi. I'll try the Garmin for a while and if it doesn't work out, I'll probably end up selling it and getting a newer Huami fitness band, since they work decently for step counting and tracking walks or jogging, and cost very little. The reason I didn't seriously look at Garmin's more basic fitness bands was because the heart rate tracking isn't particularly great (not really better than Huami's bands) and no way to pair it with an external sensor) and the prices are high for a fitness band.

 

[BPPLEE]

I think you may have.

He's slowing down the motion alot for instructional purposes, but once you get more of a flow going, you're going to naturally modify the movements and pick up speed.

I've been looking into maybe finding some old books about using Indian clubs, just because I like to learn through reading.

I have a Kindle book but the descriptions are not with the diagrams and you can’t flip back and forth like with a physical book, but I’m giving it another shot.
I want to combine metcons with brief, intense resistance training. My goal for the metcons is to do 400 for 3 rounds, a total of 1200 reps

 

[FireDragon76]

I have a Kindle book but the descriptions are not with the diagrams and you can’t flip back and forth like with a physical book, but I’m giving it another shot.
I want to combine metcons with brief, intense resistance training. My goal for the metcons is to do 400 for 3 rounds, a total of 1200 reps

I had to look up what a "Metcon" is. Have you done any Crossfit in the past? There's alot of hype about high intensity training right now (not just influencers, but also academic exercise physiology), and I think part of the reason is that it promises quick results and people feel pressed for time in their busy lives (it's sort of analogous to how the Mediterranean Diet is popular as a research subject in academia and health journalism as it's perceived as more practical for most peoples lifestyles).

I'm trying to work my way back into higher intensity, since it's good for developing explosive power, but trying to do it a little smarter now. Which means I'm more focused on developing lower intensities first. Maybe I'll try some medicine ball slams eventually, or even going back to a gym (when it's less crowded and COVID season is over).

One thing I've read that is important for older athletes is warmup. I never really understood this in the past (since personal trainers or fitness influencers often don't fully understand warmup themselves), but listening to Dr. Seiler has helped me understand how warmup is important if you do any kind of high intensity.

If you can't walk well (you mentioned knee problems), maybe you could use a small exercise bike with low resistance if you could tolerate that, or swinging some light clubs for about five or ten minutes, before you hit the weights. Whenever I have done low-intensity cardio before resistance training (like an elliptical), I usually find myself able to produce more power for lifting.

 

[BPPLEE]

I had to look up what a "Metcon" is. Have you done any Crossfit in the past? There's alot of hype about high intensity training right now (not just influencers, but also academic exercise physiology), and I think part of the reason is that it promises quick results and people feel pressed for time in their busy lives (it's sort of analogous to how the Mediterranean Diet is popular as a research subject in academia and health journalism as it's perceived as more practical for most peoples lifestyles).

I'm trying to work my way back into higher intensity, since it's good for developing explosive power, but trying to do it a little smarter now. Which means I'm more focused on developing lower intensities first. Maybe I'll try some medicine ball slams eventually, or even going back to a gym (when it's less crowded and COVID season is over).

One thing I've read that is important for older athletes is warmup. I never really understood this in the past (since personal trainers or fitness influencers often don't fully understand warmup themselves), but listening to Dr. Seiler has helped me understand how warmup is important if you do any kind of high intensity.

If you can't walk well (you mentioned knee problems), maybe you could use a small exercise bike with low resistance if you could tolerate that, or swinging some light clubs for about five or ten minutes, before you hit the weights. Whenever I have done low-intensity cardio before resistance training (like an elliptical), I usually find myself able to produce more power for lifting.

I have done CrossFit before. I got better results on my own,

 

[timewerx]

There's alot of hype about high intensity training right now (not just influencers, but also academic exercise physiology), and I think part of the reason is that it promises quick results and people feel pressed for time in their busy lives (it's sort of analogous to how the Mediterranean Diet is popular as a research subject in academia and health journalism as it's perceived as more practical for most peoples lifestyles).

Probably because it actually worked.

Fortunately, I did not first learned HIIT from influencers but from pro athletes because otherwise, I might not have trusted the information (I generally don't trust influencers especially the viral ones).

Although I kept my daily HIIT to a maximum of only 15 minutes cumulative time per day and only doing that exercise, nothing else. On active recovery days, I only did just one session of 5 minutes HIIT.

I did it very minimally, or risk over-training. Yet, it actually made things better than not doing any HIIT at all I still did a very long Zone 2 cardio session (5 to 6 hrs) once a week on Saturdays so I'm not exactly doing it to cut down time on weekly exercise.

 

[BPPLEE]

I had to look up what a "Metcon" is. Have you done any Crossfit in the past? There's alot of hype about high intensity training right now (not just influencers, but also academic exercise physiology), and I think part of the reason is that it promises quick results and people feel pressed for time in their busy lives (it's sort of analogous to how the Mediterranean Diet is popular as a research subject in academia and health journalism as it's perceived as more practical for most peoples lifestyles).

I'm trying to work my way back into higher intensity, since it's good for developing explosive power, but trying to do it a little smarter now. Which means I'm more focused on developing lower intensities first. Maybe I'll try some medicine ball slams eventually, or even going back to a gym (when it's less crowded and COVID season is over).

One thing I've read that is important for older athletes is warmup. I never really understood this in the past (since personal trainers or fitness influencers often don't fully understand warmup themselves), but listening to Dr. Seiler has helped me understand how warmup is important if you do any kind of high intensity.

If you can't walk well (you mentioned knee problems), maybe you could use a small exercise bike with low resistance if you could tolerate that, or swinging some light clubs for about five or ten minutes, before you hit the weights. Whenever I have done low-intensity cardio before resistance training (like an elliptical), I usually find myself able to produce more power for lifting.

CrossFit did improve my endurance and Cardiovascular conditioning but I was 260 when I started and after a year I was still 260.
I have always done high intensity workouts. I was really influenced by Mike Mentzer and later Dorian Yates. At my peak I trained each body part once a week. Everyone else did twice a week and some did 3 X a week.
I didn’t take steroids and still was able to lift more than some people who did:
Bench Press 405 x 5, 315 x 10, Squats 405 x 10, 315 x 20, Deadlift 405 x 10.
Leg Press 1,000 x 10, One Arm DB Row 120 x 20, Dumbbell Curls 80 x 10,
Powertech Seated Military Press 315 x 6 (I weighed 240 when I was lifting this much)
I took creatine and it really made a difference. I maintained my strength until 2008, I was dealing with corruption, marital problems and depression and didn’t train for 9 months. My weight went to 300 pounds for the first time.
I started training again and got down to 260 but a couple of years later I got rhabdo, quit training and got back up to 300 again. I went on a low carb diet and got down to 220 and stayed between 220 and 240 for about 3 years.
I remarried in 2017 and moved 60 miles from my job. I had no where to put my equipment (I had a full Powertech gym) so I sold it. Over the next 6 years, commuting 2 and 1/2 hours a day and not training I gained 100 pounds. I have lost 50 so far.

Workbench Multisystem®

The Powertec Workbench Multisystem's genius design provides complete body training for up to three users simultaneously. Perfect for home and commercial gyms!

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[FireDragon76]

CrossFit did improve my endurance and Cardiovascular conditioning but I was 260 when I started and after a year I was still 260.
I have always done high intensity workouts. I was really influenced by Mike Mentzer and later Dorian Yates. At my peak I trained each body part once a week. Everyone else did twice a week and some did 3 X a week.
I didn’t take steroids and still was able to lift more than some people who did:
Bench Press 405 x 5, 315 x 10, Squats 405 x 10, 315 x 20, Deadlift 405 x 10.
Leg Press 1,000 x 10, One Arm DB Row 120 x 20, Dumbbell Curls 80 x 10,
Powertech Seated Military Press 315 x 6 (I weighed 240 when I was lifting this much)

I tried lifting heavier but it didn't agree with me. Too much muscle soreness and it wasn't really resulting in any weight loss. Now days I try to do calisthenics three times a week. I've been using a local park that has some outdoor gym equipment and bars. When I use gym equipment I just try to do 2-3 sets, 12-20 reps, and get within a few reps to failure. Sometimes, on a higher intensity day, I will add drop sets and progressively reduce the weight.

Low intensity cardio for several hours per week, at a relatively high volume, on the other hand, seems to have helped me to lose more visceral fat.

I'll be using my Garmin to track how much an impact the low intensity cardio has. I went out to the park this morning and did some body weight exercises and some walking for about 45 minutes, and the Body Battery only fell a few points (59-44). So I could probably add more volume of cardio on a better day (I didn't sleep so well last night). The big limitation is probably my knees. If I do too much volume (especially walking), I get some pain around my knee, maybe the IT band or bursitis (it's usually my left knee). That's why ideally, I prefer doing mostly air walker, an elliptical, or a bike.

I took creatine and it really made a difference. I maintained my strength until 2008, I was dealing with corruption, marital problems and depression and didn’t train for 9 months. My weight went to 300 pounds for the first time.
I started training again and got down to 260 but a couple of years later I got rhabdo, quit training and got back up to 300 again. I went on a low carb diet and got down to 220 and stayed between 220 and 240 for about 3 years.
I remarried in 2017 and moved 60 miles from my job. I had no where to put my equipment (I had a full Powertech gym) so I sold it. Over the next 6 years, commuting 2 and 1/2 hours a day and not training I gained 100 pounds. I have lost 50 so far.

Workbench Multisystem®

The Powertec Workbench Multisystem's genius design provides complete body training for up to three users simultaneously. Perfect for home and commercial gyms!

powertec.com

I think a relatively lower carb, lower fat approach is probably best for weight loss. Lots of non-starchy vegetables. I like palm hearts, they have very few calories and are mostly fiber and water, and they have a little bit of a crunch to them.

What seems to work best for me is 1/4 beans or some other higher-protein food, 1/4 whole grains or starchy root vegetables, and 1/2 vegetables and fruit. And a small amount of nuts, seeds, or a small amount of avocado (about 10-20 grams a day or so, no more... because they are relatively calorie dense and easy to overeat). Also, avoiding added oil or sugar. Bread and pasta are probably best avoided altogether if you are serious about weight loss. They might be OK once you reach your target weight, but they are usually more calorie dense, even the whole grain types.

 

[BPPLEE]

I tried lifting heavier but it didn't agree with me. Too much muscle soreness and it wasn't really resulting in any weight loss. Now days I try to do calisthenics three times a week. I've been using a local park that has some outdoor gym equipment and bars. When I use gym equipment I just try to do 2-3 sets, 12-20 reps, and get within a few reps to failure. Sometimes, on a higher intensity day, I will add drop sets and progressively reduce the weight.

Low intensity cardio for several hours per week, at a relatively high volume, on the other hand, seems to have helped me to lose more visceral fat.

I'll be using my Garmin to track how much an impact the low intensity cardio has. I went out to the park this morning and did some body weight exercises and some walking for about 45 minutes, and the Body Battery only fell a few points (59-44). So I could probably add more volume of cardio on a better day (I didn't sleep so well last night). The big limitation is probably my knees. If I do too much volume (especially walking), I get some pain around my knee, maybe the IT band or bursitis (it's usually my left knee). That's why ideally, I prefer doing mostly air walker, an elliptical, or a bike.



I think a relatively lower carb, lower fat approach is probably best for weight loss. Lots of non-starchy vegetables. I like palm hearts, they have very few calories and are mostly fiber and water, and they have a little bit of a crunch to them.

What seems to work best for me is 1/4 beans or some other higher-protein food, 1/4 whole grains or starchy root vegetables, and 1/2 vegetables and fruit. And a small amount of nuts, seeds, or a small amount of avocado (about 10-20 grams a day or so, no more... because they are relatively calorie dense and easy to overeat). Also, avoiding added oil or sugar. Bread and pasta are probably best avoided altogether if you are serious about weight loss. They might be OK once you reach your target weight, but they are usually more calorie dense, even the whole grain types.

I tend to binge when I get off my diet. I have been but my weight has not gone up. I bought some whey protein and I take that instead of eating sweets and that is working. My biggest problem was waking up throughout the night and eating. Now I just have a protein drink instead.
Usually when my knee hurts the pain is in the back of the knee, in the bend. I have a brace that helps.

 

[BPPLEE]

This morning after working back I did Indian Club High Swings with 10 lb clubs. I could feel it in my lats, it works much like the Nautilus Pullover Machine. It really pumped up my lats.