Tips/Tricks/Secrets and Whatnot for Health.

[Jabberwocky]

I figured it'd be nice to have a "general purpose" dumping ground for tips/ideas that don't fit so well elsewhere.

Plz BOLD the tip/trick itself for clarity :]

I'll start it off with a few:

Aerobic exercise is not remotely as effective for weightloss as people tend to think.

It is unlikely that you drink enough fluids.

It's far better to be undertrained than 1 day overtrained. Overtraining/injury prevention only gets lip service, until it's too late

/note that this is for *any* fitness/health/vitality stuff, from barbells to botox to beauty sleep ;P

caffeine and melatonin are two incredibly cheap, safe and effective products with extremely minimal risks in healthy individuals (same for creatine, provided it's pure creatine monohydrate)

You WILL.NOT.LOSE.WEIGHT by eating the healthiest foods in the world, if you do not achieve a calorie deficit. Conversely, you CAN diet successfully at McDonald's. Calorie-balance is king. [NOTE: bf%/BMI, while an indicator of health, /= health. It's a good yardstick, but little more]

Your body has a certain fat-distribution that it will keep. While you cannot target "abdominal fat" with situps, you can with botox. However, over time, the body will work to "fix" that "artificial" change to fat-distribution (ie, your "shape" is generally gonna be your "shape", you can up/down the total fat, but not *where* that fat is

 

[Serotonin101]

there is no such thing as "good foods" or "bad foods". its all about proper ratios of macronutrients and your calorie intake.

there is no such thing as "spot reduction" (doing an workouts to lose stomach fat=bullshit!!!)

alcohol is the bane of healthy living

opiates/opioids suppress natural testosterone production

sleep is vital for physical, psychological, and emotional health. get ~8 hours a night (that goes for you tweakers!)

train your upper AND lower body, not just that bullshit arms only shit you see "the bros" doing.

intense weight training yields better weight loss than cardio due to the increase in metabolism overall, increasing muscles mass (higher overall resting metabolism) and prevents muscle wasting that can be caused from heavy cardio only workout regiments.

you only get out what you put in- half assing diet, sleep, and exercise will give you half assed results.

keep track of your progress to continue pushing yourself daily, weekly, monthly, etc. if you hit a plateau you need to change things up with diet, exercise, sleep, or all of the above to break through the plateau.

if you're still stuck at your plateau after substantial training (talking a few years) and everything is on point with your diet, sleep, and training then start browsing the steroid discussion forum :D

if you have any questions in perfecting your diet or exercise plan ask them. the only stupid question is the one not asked.
daily multi vitamins are key. get b complex vitamins as well along with other types of support supplements that you may need for joint health, heart health, etc for personal health and happiness.

that's all I got for now

 

[Jabberwocky]

^GOOD stuff right there ;]

/note: alcohol, in <2drink amounts, is not really so bad
//another note: for plateau's, lots of time a week or two off, or a change of routine, is all that's needed (not that there's anything wrong/improper about *safe* steroid usage)

 

[Serotonin101]

thank you for the plateau comment, I should clarify: when ones genetic maximum potential is reached, then start researching steroids (and be over the age of 25 years old). don't want my vagueness to encourage reckless steroid use.

thanks for starting this thread. I've seen you contribute in SD and enjoy your posts and threads here in healthy living so I figured id join all you lovely healthy people off to eat my 3rd meal of 5 today. Yummy Yummy macros.

oh one more thing: there are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. look into them.

fat free food doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy as it can be packed with carbs that when they are not used become stored as fat!

if trying to maintain an anabolic state look into slow digesting proteins such as casein protein which is found in cottage cheese. also combining fats with your food slows absorption of foods (eggs have protein and fat) which can work in place of a slow acting protein.

sodium intake can drastically affect the way you look- high sodium causes water retention which can cause a bloated round look. drop your sodium to around 2000mg/day (I believe that's the minimum) and watch as you slimdown and if you're already in shape watch as your definition improves.

if you're not weight training or doing exercise that requires explosive strength look into ketogenic diets to shed pounds quickly. for those who need the explosive strength look into cyclic keto diets.

finally off to eat now

 

[Jabberwocky]

protip for bulk-eating: eat as quickly as possible w/ the biggest spoon you got, and only once you're gorged do you drink a weightgainer 'desert' ;]

and good point re "low-fat". truth is that excess calories, not simply excess fat intake, determines bodyfat accumulation. And, while we can survive w/o carbs, we *cannot* w/o protein and fat

/2g/day sodium? that sounds a bit high no?

 

[addictivepersona]

^ Absolute minimum intake of sodium is around 700mg iirc.

 

[Serotonin101]

correction: 2000mg is considered low sodium to prevent excess water weight. try to limit sodium to 2000mg or less daily to drop water weight.

 

[Jabberwocky]

remembering, of course, that sodium requirements can fluctuate heavily if you sweat a lot. Sometimes, after biking/running in the sun here for too long, i'll add salts to my protein shakes (*if* i wasn't good about gatorade while out )

 

[Serotonin101]

remembering, of course, that sodium requirements can fluctuate heavily if you sweat a lot. Sometimes, after biking/running in the sun here for too long, i'll add salts to my protein shakes (*if* i wasn't good about gatorade while out )

I was just thinking of this as I posted my last post (I was in an NA so I didn't have time to edit, can't use phones in the meetings I go to out of respect). definitely people who are sweating need to replace electrolytes (its what plants crave!). sodium and potassium are very important which is why gatorade and other similar drinks are packed with it. I used to eat a salted banana after a day of heavy sweating to get both micronutrients plus some simple sugar to spike insulin with my protein shake (can always blend it with the shake too). sorry if this is considered derailing the thread

I thought of another tip though: your abs are like any other muscle group and need a break to grow. do not do ab workout daily thinking that's how you "get ripped". in fact if you're working the major groups (chest, back, legs) you'll also work your abs sufficiently most of the time.

if you're concerned about losing weight (or gaining weight) keep a log of the food you eat and their nutritional value to determine what needs altered. if you're trying to gain weight then: calories in>calories out. if you're wanting to lose weight: calories in<calories about. try to to drastically cut or increase calories as the adjustment can be uncomfortable.

its also recommended that with weight lifting and putting on lean muscle mass not to spend more than 45-60min in the gym as the bodys cortisol levels sky rocket due to stress and you'll have major diminishing returns (not get out what you put in). cortisol is very catabolic (causes muscle breakdown and immune system deficiencies) and should be limited.

testosterone is at its highest first thing in the morning when you awake and slowly declines throughout the day. take from that what you want (better sex or better workouts in the morning).

benzo use can inhibit the body from entering deep sleep which can cause grogginess, physical sluggishness, decreased growth hormone release, and heightened stress hormone levels.

its open to debate on cannabis usage and physical health. some say it can stimulate appetite for those with eating difficulties (trying to bulk up) but others say the laziness in the gym is a negative and ones ability to eat according to plan is inhibited due to the power of "the munchies" (doritos, taco bell, 5 slices of pizza, a box of cereal, 2 litre of soda, and more weed isn't exactly a balanced meal from my own experience lol).

also nsaid use should be limited while training. for more info see bmxxx's thread about it here in "healthy living".

 

[Jabberwocky]

stretching and holding your muscles before physical exertion decreases performance and increases injury. Of course, it is great for afterwards
/i mean static-stretching, or what most just call "stretching". Dynamic stretching, on the other hand, increases performance and decreases injury risk ;]
//is true for most any activity, maybe not stuff like yoga but most all activities that have quick and/or strong and/or repeated, so most any sport or exercise program
///actually makes perfect sense, wish this was more widely understood.

I used to eat a salted banana after a day of heavy sweating to get both micronutrients plus some simple sugar to spike insulin with my protein shake (can always blend it with the shake too). sorry if this is considered derailing the thread

that's the opposite of derailing
you should be replenishing as you lose it, but i imagine not always practical..

its open to debate on cannabis usage and physical health. some say it can stimulate appetite for those with eating difficulties (trying to bulk up) but others say the laziness in the gym is a negative and ones ability to eat according to plan is inhibited due to the power of "the munchies" (doritos, taco bell, 5 slices of pizza, a box of cereal, 2 litre of soda, and more weed isn't exactly a balanced meal from my own experience lol).

Are you referring to 'being high', or to habitual users' generally?
what are the main physiological concerns? from, say, brownies...not smoked/burned plant? I kind of always imagine pot as *completely* benign aside from the smoke, although i doubt it's 100%. Whatever physiological changes regularly smoking pot causes, i dunno, but they're surely well within acceptable boundaries.
WRT actually being high, like at the gym or while training, i think it largely comes down to the individual and the activity. If you enjoy being blazed, then you'll probably have a good session on stuff like 'bodybuilding' lifting(ie 8-12+ reps), cardio, etc., but i couldn't imagine how it could be practical or safe to do coordinated moves (olympic lifts) or heavier lifts in the <6rep range (i imagine it would hinder performance in these areas too, unless you *always* trained blazed lol)

also nsaid use should be limited while training. for more info see bmxxx's thread about it here in "healthy living".

yyyyup ;]
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...the-athlete-by-bmxxx?highlight=NSAIDS+athlete


Great contributions serotonin, we got this thread kicked off well

ooookay i gotta cut this short for now, i just started being able to hear grinding in my forearm/wrist (injured about a week ago, and is actually worse than day injured...may be time to see the dr )
edit: if anyone's familiar w/ why a muscular/joint injury is making heavy grinding noises, plz chime in lol because i'm certainly not going to the hospital tonight, but am freaked out this is worse than thought...why would a sore lower-forearm, not the wrist or joint just the lower-forearm muscle, make an effing grinding noise? with full range of motion and everything.. bah nm i know i gg doctor lol ;P

DOMS is not caused by lactic acid, nor is there much you can do about it besides pain-management practices. DOMS, or delayed-onset muscle soreness, is that burning sensation you'll get when starting new programs (btw, if you're so sore you can't move and are all zombie for days, you fucked up and trained wayyy harder than you should have*). Contrary to myth, this is not caused by lactic acid (a metabolite from your muscles' energy metabolism) buildup; current thought/opinion is that this is little more than a simple over-abundance of muscle-fiber damage, ie what we wanted, but wayyy more than was proper.
And aside from normal stuff for sore muscles (NSAIDS if you must; ice; active recovery ie gentle training; proper food/sleep), there's nothing much you can do about it, no special way to 'heal' that soreness (yes, your DOMS product is snake oil- you know who you are )
(*while some level of DOMS is still experienced by regular / veteran trainees, and just becomes a fact of life, it is almost a guarantee for new athletes. getting past the 1st couple weeks' soreness is a price that must be paid, but the fact is that the overwhelming majority of ppl tend to do too much workload, at too high intensities, too quickly. Overdoing it like that, in addition to causing pita DOMS, is *counterproductive* to building the proper "base" that allows you to apply techniques (see: progressive overload) for supercompensation (or, as any athlete calls it, 'progress' ))

[note: plz understand that this pain i refer to here does NOT include joint/injury damage, and that you definitely need to keep an eye on "unnatural" pains. Sorry I cannot elaborate better, i guess i mean: both thighs sore through whole length of the muscle? Good/normal. Left ankle feeling unusual or hurt? Bad.
It's important to listen to your body, because pain is typically for telling you not to do something LOL, but when starting new programs you got this couple-week period in the beginning where you just need to ignore that, get your base conditioned a little, and then your body won't give you the 'do not want' reaction to training sessions anymore. Actually many find it becomes quite the opposite, with the body begging to be back in action ]

/okay i'll do the smart fitness move now and stop typing on a fuct wrist that's on fire.

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

stretching and holding your muscles before physical exertion decreases performance and increases injury.

I know this is true, and makes sense physiologically. However, before biking I find that light stretching of my legs, back, and groin (20 seconds or so for each stretch, and just to the point where I feel it a little) helps me not have any pains around my knees or cramp up later in the ride. Also keeping any problem joints warm (for me my knees) keeps me pain free.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I definitely still do some static stretching too, although i've swapped the majority to dynamic
/also- the lower the temperature the stronger you get. [clearly there is a floor to that effect LOL, I don't think you're doing much of anything at 0deg. Cannot recall for sure, but am very inclined to say that, while allowing the muscles to contract a lil more forcefully, training in the cold would likely raise injury rates]

 

[Serotonin101]

definitely weed usage and working out is on an individual basis. when I smoked I couldn't motivate myself to walk across the room for the tv remote to change channels and would eat tons of junk food regardless of my food plan. I see this with my friends too. pretty much an overall lack of drive. also depending on how high an individual is, it could cause coordination issues, balance issues, etc which could be harmful in the gym. cardio while high was definitely doable and enjoyable for me as I could just space out and run. getting started running was a different story. I can't really find real information on non-burning methods of administration (vaping, edibles, drinking tinctures, etc) though it seems rather harmless. I'm not sure how pot affects the sleep cycle and ability to enter and remain in deep sleep for growth hormone release and other important aspects of deep sleep.

if one is experienced in lifting in the gym and needs an appetite boost there are peptides which boost hunger with minimal sides though my recommendation is to train drug free the best you can as that's how your best performance will show. no shortcuts.

consume some protein when you wake up to get your body out of a catabolic state.

dehydration can occur in any temperature. cold weather training can cause dehydration silently so replenish fluids frequently. also be aware of sunburns in the cold as well.

cold weather doesn't make you sick. it may compromise your immune system so when you think of huddling with others to keep warm remember they are a cesspool of filth for your weakened immune system.

personal hygiene is very important to physical health as well, getting rid of bacteria, viruses, etc to keep them out of your body. plus smelling nice and looking clean can boost self esteem, and heightened self esteem puts you in better emotional health which has been shown to reduce stress and improve immune function

 

[Jabberwocky]

can you elaborate on hunger-inducing peptides? I *tore* the internet apart some years ago looking for any proper "hunger" pill to help get down calories and never found anything


also, what are your thoughts on protein requirements for gaining muscle? I always recommend 1g/lbs as a general rule of thumb - i'll just come out and admit that i've kind of always taken that old 1g/lbs maxim as truth and never cared to get to the bottom of it, despite always having a very strong suspicion that 1g/lbs is wayyy more protein than is needed to sustain anabolism (i mean, while protein makes up such a large part of a muscle, teh fact is that a pound of muscle only has like 600k in it, and 600k of protein calories is 125g protein or amino acids. Given that 1lbs of muscle/week is a very very impressive gaining schedule in trained individuals w/o steroids, i've always suspected that the 1g/lbs rule was wayyy overkill)
/still going to take 1g/lbs until i know 100% it's unnecessary ;P

 

[Jabberwocky]

Re sitting, yeah it's absolutely bad to sit in a chair for extended periods like that (think that's a big cause of deep vein thrombosis iirc ). One thing that seems to offer a lot of help in such situations is to get your feet up (ie indian style or whatever) and to ditch the chair's back-support. Having your legs higher does a lot for the DVT risks, and eliminating the back of the chair / having to keep your spine somewhat erect helps protect your posture

Re age/training, as you get older it gets harder w/o a doubt. However, i'm skeptical, to say the least, of the idea that the shape you were in from 20-21y/o has any noteworthy effects on your results when you're 30y/o (correlation /= causation. My guess is that's what led to that confusion. ie "people who were in shit-shape in their 20's tend to be those who find it hard to get in shape in their 30's", but that does not mean it's *because* of what they did or did not do in their 20's)
NOTE: men go through "andropause", and we have test fluctuations - lots of women are unaware of this.

 

[Somberlain]

Wash your hands a lot in winter. Don't touch your mouth and eyes a lot. Get a flu shot.

In my opinion/experience, those rules only should be followed completely if you're not healthy (so that a flu is some kind of threat to you) and your immune system isn't in the best shape (so you get sick way too easily).
If a perfectly healthy individual strictly follows rules like this, he/she doesn't allow his/her immune system to get the natural "training" it needs to keep on functioning/improving. Of course hygiene is important and i don't want to say that you shouldn't wash your hands or that you should put your dirty hands in your mouth/eyes, but you shouldn't overdo it with hygiene etc because coming in contact with bacteria or viruses and even getting sick is perfectly normal and even good for you (i'm talking about the standard cold/flu in winter etc, not about serious stuff) because it keeps your immune system in shape. I talked about this with a lot of doctors and almost all of them had the opinion that you shouldn't get flu shots if you're healthy and that they only advice sick/weak/old people to get them.

Regarding the fluid intake: I think it's important that you try to find out how much fluids your body really needs under various circumstances. Statements like "you should drink x liter every day" are pretty much useless because there are so many contributing factors. I think there was a study about how the ideal amount of fluid intake varies inbetween individuals but i can't find it anymore. But the differences were pretty huge. And just drinking more so you're on the "safe side" isn't that great either because drinking way more than you need also isn't good for you.

 

[Jabberwocky]

That's bad advice re hydration.. Clearly fluid requirements vary between individuals (they vary heavily within a single individual!), but when it comes to fluid intake you err on the side of more, not less. Hyponetremia(sp?) is a concern but that's not something that happens from a bit extra, that's from *way* extra (and/or special scenarios- for instance, long-distance endurance like marathons or ironman make fluid and electrolyte balance more of a serious issue (but still not that worrisome), or rolling (the last *several* instances i've read of were mdma-related. Perhaps that has more to do with my browsing patterns tho lol))

 

[Somberlain]

Yeah sorry i might have phrased that wrong. Of course, you're right, it's clearly better to drink more than you need than drinking less. But i've seen so many people that have become "addicted" to always having their bottle of water or whatever with them to the point where they seem to worry that they might collapse if they don't take a sip every minute because of being told everywhere how important it is. And i think that's where it starts to become unhealthy, when they force themselves to do it constantly.
I'm not advising you should only drink as much as you need and not a ml more, but i know enough people who just overdo it (5l+ on a normal day) because of this obsession with fluid intake. Sorry if that came through wrong.

 

[Jabberwocky]

5l is probably WAYYYY overkill- for comparison, I think the most i've put down in the past month was close, but not quite there. Of course, I had spent many, many hours doing distance-training in the midday FL sun ;P

 

[Somberlain]

Yeah then this is where the misunderstanding lies (my fault). I just wanted to say it because i was confronted with people like that a few times now who misinterpreted the statements about fluid intake to the point where they thought they should just force as much fluid into their bodies as possible to stay healthy. But i see how my original statement was misleading/wrong.