OT | Official Fitness & Health Thread

[jimmybones]

so you'd say it's better to do fewer with more weight than more with just body weight? i've been doing 100 incline setups as part of my normal workout but i haven't added any weight yet.

Yup, just like any other muscle. You're better off adding resistance than more reps at a certain point. Unless your goal is endurance of doing crunches.

good to know. what do you think i should do for reps?

I'd mix it up while usually staying between 8-20 reps per set. Once you're hitting 20 reps in a set it's usually a good indicator that upping the weight is your best bet. I prefer to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps while occassionally upping the reps and dropping the weight and doing 2-3 sets of 15-20.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

http://urbanecologycenter.org/what-we-d ... pment.html

Pretty damn good deal for people around Milwaukee. It is $25 a year ($12 for students) to be able to rent kayaks, canoes, and bikes. Also some real good trail running right next to it.

I plan on going there once a week to get to some outdoor cross-training in.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Just signed up for my first two marathons. Twin Cities in October and Madison in November. Might add a third in August just because I am much farther along in training than I need to be for a fall marathon. I'm in to the high teens for my long run each week and ran a ton through the winter.

[JoeyMorgan619]

Just signed up for my first two marathons. Twin Cities in October and Madison in November. Might add a third in August just because I am much farther along in training than I need to be for a fall marathon. I'm in to the high teens for my long run each week and ran a ton through the winter.

Nice. Mind sharing a bit of your training plan?

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Just signed up for my first two marathons. Twin Cities in October and Madison in November. Might add a third in August just because I am much farther along in training than I need to be for a fall marathon. I'm in to the high teens for my long run each week and ran a ton through the winter.

Just be careful of over doing it. A marathon just destroys your immune system. Which one is the more important one for you? It would suck to come down with the flu before the Madison one because your immune system is shot.

[Ill-yasova]

Currently I'm a little frustrated with my workouts. I know I've thinned down a bit in the last couple weeks, my pants are getting loose and I'm fitting into shirts I didn't fit into at Easter, but I haven't lost a damn pound. I'm kind of used to it, I generally gain 7-8 lbs during my first couple weeks back at the gym, but that doesn't change the fact that it's frustrating stepping on a scale and either gaining weight or seeing no difference.

[emunney]

I personally think the scale is a horrible judge of progress. How do you feel? I think if you're fitting into shirts you didn't fit into at Easter (2 1/2 weeks ago), that's a much better indicator than your weight. You're doing very well. I have always found it far more helpful to set performance based goals rather than visual or weight goals.

[Nebula1]

Noon hoops ftw

[Ill-yasova]

I personally think the scale is a horrible judge of progress. How do you feel? I think if you're fitting into shirts you didn't fit into at Easter (2 1/2 weeks ago), that's a much better indicator than your weight. You're doing very well. I have always found it far more helpful to set performance based goals rather than visual or weight goals.

Very true. I think it may be best to just ditch the scale all together.

[emunney]

If the scale is giving you grief, get rid of it. It's useless. Unless you fight/wrestle/box competitively?

[averageposter]

I was surprised how much water weight gain happened when I started taking a pre-workout supplement. I wanted the extra energy and blood flow but it also contained Creatine, most of them do. Creatine hydrates muscles among other pretty well documented benefits and is generally a pretty popular supplement by itself, however water weight gains of 3-7 pounds are common during the loading phase. I certainly had that, verified it by deloading and immediately dropped the water weight.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Just signed up for my first two marathons. Twin Cities in October and Madison in November. Might add a third in August just because I am much farther along in training than I need to be for a fall marathon. I'm in to the high teens for my long run each week and ran a ton through the winter.

Just be careful of over doing it. A marathon just destroys your immune system. Which one is the more important one for you? It would suck to come down with the flu before the Madison one because your immune system is shot.

Twin Cities is probably more important because it's a bigger deal and I'd probably have to get a hotel for it. I literally live a couple of blocks from the Madison Marathon start/finish.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Just signed up for my first two marathons. Twin Cities in October and Madison in November. Might add a third in August just because I am much farther along in training than I need to be for a fall marathon. I'm in to the high teens for my long run each week and ran a ton through the winter.

Nice. Mind sharing a bit of your training plan?

I've been running long distance for last 6 or 7 years, gradually building my conditioning, first running quarter marathons, then 10 mile races, then half marathons. I did have to take a whole year off because of ACL surgery a few years ago, which set me back quite a bit. So I've been close to marathon shape before but the ACL injury and a series of smaller injuries/events set me back, which is why I'm only attempting my first marathon this year.

I don't really have an exact running plan, I never have. I might consult with my dad at some point since he ran 18 marathons back in the day. I'm currently at the point where I don't have a problem going out for a 15-17 mile run. I try to run 3-4 days during the week (6.5-10 mile runs) and then go for a long run (13-17) on Saturday or Sunday. During the winter, because of the weather, it was more like 6.5 mile runs during the week and then a 10-13 mile run on the weekends.

My general plan is to add a mile to my long run every couple of weeks or so. I'm doing the Syttende Mai 20 mile run in May so that should give me a good idea of where I'm at. I'll then have 4+ months to get ready for the actual marathon so I'm not too worried about having enough time to prepare. I was actually thinking of trying to find a marathon that was in August but the pickings are slim, so I think I'll just wait for the Twin Cities marathon in October.

[Nebula1]

Friday night hoops ftw

now to get out and get at some makers mark. I heard it's healthy drink.

[jerrod]

i just played an indoor soccer game and then had some drinks. i feel awesome. i recommended that on a friday night

[Nebula1]

More from Bloomberg Brink.. changing food and eliminating sugar

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi5rW8bDx-E[/youtube]

[Ill-yasova]

i just played an indoor soccer game and then had some drinks. i feel awesome. i recommended that on a friday night

Hell yes. I've always found, in the past and recently, that as long as you keep it healthy during the week and reasonably healthy (one cheat a day for me) on the weekends, those weekend drinks are a nice reward. I generally lose more weight during the weekends than I do during the week actually.

[ReasonablySober]

I generally lose more weight during the weekends than I do during the week actually.

I do too. Mostly because that's when I drink and it dehydrates me. Less water weight.

Biggest thing that helped me was becoming a better cook. I still eat whatever I want but I want healthy food the overwhelming majority of the time. Learning to make meals with less carbs (namely pasta), sugar, fat while eating more green veggies that taste ridiculously good was the turning point in my path to get healthy, lose weight, whatever.

I eat more avocados than probably anyone on the planet. It's basically a food group for me. I bring one to work every day and my thing is bringing something along that will go good with it. Most times it's just sauteed peppers and onions from the night before with some spices. But there's nothing I won't pair an avocado with.

I'm a two meal a day guy. My body has gotten used to it and I'm never hungry outside of 12 and 6. In between I drink a lot of coffee and Crystal Light and booze when I want to drink (no sugary drinks or beer).

I went from a 34" waist to a 32" over the winter without exercising, and just being not-dumb with my diet. Just becoming a really good home-cook was the biggest thing. Once you start to make cheap, healthy, quick meals that taste awesome you lose any desire to make foods that add pounds.

[jerrod]

being able to cook is huge. i'm slowly getting better at it. avocados are awesome.

on the drinking front, i've dumped the vodka lemonades for vodka gimlets. i think that cuts out some unnecessary calories.

here's a question. i'm doing squats now but i want to do calf raises on the same day, anyone have any thoughts on that?

[emunney]

i'm doing squats now but i want to do calf raises on the same day, anyone have any thoughts on that?

Can you explain the controversy? I say go for it.