Exercise (Need Advice)

[KorpDeath]

Nice routine Dr Toker. Wish I could do that... damn....

[Kindred69]

From what you have said I don’t think cardio vascular fitness will be much of a problem for yourself playing being on your blades for that amount of time that regularly should be enough for a general level of health in the cardio sense. However playing the same sport for a long time you body adapts, meaning that you will burn less calories and also not stress you heart so much to gain as much cardio benefit, perhaps try a cardio exercise that is different, many have suggested jogging, this IMO is an exercise that has many benefits but also many downsides, the main downside is the stress on your joints, specify your knees and ankles but that is my opinion. If you join a gym perhaps consider rowing, this is a great exercise in many ways, not only does it have great cardio benefits but because you use almost all your major muscle groups you will find it harder, because your leg muscles will be very use to the prolonged stress where you upper body less so. This is also a great exercise to use when starting weight training, for when you start out at least (see below for further explanation of why), the main benefits is that all you muscles will be craving blood meaning all you muscles will get warmed up. Speaking of that, the most likely reason for you discomfort after play is the build up of lactic acid, if you play for your session finish then go home all this acid is left in you muscles casing discomfort, a simply cool down time after, i.e. 10 stretching post the game/session will help move this lactic acid slightly, will not solve the discomfort but should help cut it down.


(note I speak of voluntary muscle groups i.e. biceps, not involuntary muscles i.e. cardiac tissue)
Moving on. There are three main energy systems that you muscles use, alactic anaerobic, lactic anaerobic, and aerobic. Now a lactic anaerobic (ATP/pc system) is fast very powerful strong contractions, explosive power, last a few seconds, lactic anaerobic less explosive, lasts longer no need for oxygen used within the first 20 second of exercise before you heart rate has increased enough to feed oxygen to the, muscles, once it has aerobic takes over lasting for the rest of the time. A note here whilst using aerobic energy system both alactic and lactic energy systems are still used, the a lactic is used for the sudden bust of speed/strength as long as the muscles have recycled there creatin stores, lactic anaerobic is used also to give you that more prolonged surge when you need it but at not time are you only using one energy system it just what energy system is taking most of the burden on energy production.

Your muscles are made up of muscle fibres, however all muscle fibres are not the same, depending on the energy system the muscle fibre is biases to using, depend on what type of muscle fibre the muscle is constituted of. There are about 5 classes of muscle fibres (am writing this off the top of my head so they might be less I cant remember for sure), though it mainly easer when considering fitness to think of there being 2 types, fast twitch, these use mainly lactic anaerobic and a lactic anaerobic, and slow twitch which use mainly aerobic. Every person has both fast and slow twitch fibres in every voluntary muscle group, the amount of these are set at birth, if you proportions are 40%-60% fast and slow twitch respectively then you will always have this approximate proportions, however remember I said that there are 5 types of muscle fibres, well this is where they can adapt, a slow twitch fibre can take on more fast twitch characteristics and vice versa, this is how you muscles adapt to regular stress placed upon them. Now fast twitch fibres are bigger thicker have more mass than slow twitch, hence if you look at a marathon runner they are not the size of a body builder, marathon runners muscles are adapted as best as they can to slow twitch because in a marathon that the energy system you use.

Ok theory lesson over, mostly. Depending on what you wish to gain form you exercise routine, depends on how you start and the general structure of your program. I’m going to mainly talk about weight training but will include some cardio at the end. Assuming that you new to weight training a good start for about 12-15 weeks would be something like this, day 1 cardio, day 2 weights, day 3 rest, day 4 cardio, day 5 weights, day six rest, day 7 weights. This allows 3 weight session in the week, with 2 days rest mostly(expect from day 7to day 2 though you can try to make as much time as possible between them to allow form muscle recuperation). Now during this 12-15 weeks I suggest you don’t use machines, but free weights, this is my opinion only some gyms agree with this some don’t. The things to remember is that free weights are more dangerous to start off with however they do have a great benefit. Machine are designed to force correct movement and tend to be very specific on the muscle , where free weights are still specific but they stress more muscle group because you have to support the weight as well and complete the movement, Ill take the bicep curl for example, with a matching you arms is based you take the bar which is on a system of pulleys , cams etc, you curl the bar up you arm can only move in one plane as the machine pull and cam system is only designed to move in that way, this is great for specific bicep development, do the same thing with a barbell, as you curl you have to hold your arms in place, you arms are free to move in any direction they wish, so you need muscle tension to hold your arm in position to get correct form. WEIGHT LIFTED IS NOT AS INPORTANT AS FORM. If you use a barbell you stress more muscles and strengthen muscles that you don’t on the machine. Free weights strengthen both the muscle you wish to as well as deeper muscles that you use to hold yourself in the correct position, such as rotor cuff muscle, is a deep muscle under the deltoid, many people find a weakness in there arm strength because this muscle which hold the joint in place is weak even though there superficial muscles, i.e. deltoids are very strong, this come form working on machines that are so specific to a muscle group they are good finishers, or pre fatigue exercises (this is where you fatigue a specific muscle so that when you use a multi-jointed movement that muscle fatigues first see below for further explanation). Having said all that sometime machine to start off with can be of benefit to get use to working your muscles, what it feels like to get a good strong contraction of the deltoid for example. This is up to you and your gym, some gyms will not let new members use free weight to start with due to the increase in risk. Now for the first 12-15 weeks I would also concentrate and laying down the foundations of a strong/fit body, you could try to get a beach body, work on your abs and arms during this time but in the long run it isn’t worth it. I suggest free weight movements that have a large range of motion and use more than 1 joint, i.e. barbell curls you bend you arm at only the elbow in so one joint used, 1 muscles group used, a squat you bend at the hips and the knees, therefore 2 joints more muscles used, more muscle groups, more supporting deep muscles used so more general muscle fatigue, strengthening you whole body instead of just this muscle group on that muscle group. I suggest that you include in all your training the squat, deadlift (ALWAYS use a weight belt),Full clean and jerk lift. These are some of the big multi-joint movements and wills strengthen your body, You don’t have to stick with just multi-joint just incorporate them into you routine. When lifting try and train antagonist pairs, don’t do one and not the other, i.e. if you train your bicep, train you triceps also. One of the most common mistakes I know off is when people train there abs, most people train there abs hard trying to get that six pack, washboard stomach but totally neglect there lower back, after a while they complain about lower back pain and cant figure out why. The reason they suffer is there abs have become a lot stronger than there lower back, all you lower torso support come form these 2 large muscle groups, because there back is not as strong as there abs the back muscle strain and fatigue trying to pull against the stronger abs, leading to the back fatiguing and the support loss and ensuing in lower back pain. Remember to keep balance. There are the basics of training with weights, after the 12-15 week period you can look at being more specific, perhaps splitting your routine as suggested into upper body one day, lower body another, when you wish to do that PM me and Ill pass on how I do my split if you want. Also if you get into it or hit a plateau PM me and I can pass on more advanced techniques such as super sets, giant sets and other tips to get over it, however you should not need these for a while.

Ok so now I have told you the general training tips , time to be more specific. If you can remember back to the beginning of the post(yeah I know I go on a bit) I spoke of energy systems and muscle fibres well bare that in mind for this section. If you looking to increase your strength though weight training then you want low reps, like 4-6 for 2 to 3 sets, the time between sets should be a few minutes. This is because strength you want explosive power, you want you muscles to contract as past as the can(power=speed*distance), the fastest contraction are when using alactic anaerobic, this system works on chemicals already in the muscle, the long time between sets allows the muscles you have there stores replenished. The low rep number is to ensure that this is the energy system you using mainly during your set. The weight you should use should allow you to be able to do 6 reps on the first set, 5/6 on the second and 4/5 on the last set. If you looking to tone up without putting on much muscle mass but increase definition , then 3 to four sets of 15 reps is what you looking at, with a weight you can lift the 15 reps on each set, also the time between sets should be shorter to use the alactic anaerobic energy system in the main. Finally if it mass you looking for you need to go in the middle about 10-12 reps for 3 sets, the time between not as long as the strength but longer that the toneing routine. On a side note when you progress to a more advantaged training routine be careful on the cardio you do before(ie the same day) either the strength or building routine it will effect your results.

Now cardio here is a arm chair calculation, 220-your age in year = theoretic max heart rate. The most efficient fat burning range is between 60-80 % of your maximum just a little guide to the heart rates you wish to be within when training cardio.

Finally(yes I do shut up eventually) a few tips and notes on nutrition. Balanced diet is essential, however note that I said diet not meals, work on balancing you diet daily not by the meal, also if you get into training in a big way 6 smaller meals compared to 3 larger ones will aid you goals, this is because you not overloading your body with food but in fact keeping a constant flow of energy and other biochemical’s within your system. Also hydration is very important, when your thirty you have already began to dehydrate, and once dehydration begins it take longer to get your body back into a running balance than if keep hydrated (most chemical reaction and process within the body have a dependence somewhere on osmotic pressure), take in fluids though working out and thought the day. Also post workout you have a golden hour, each a banana or 2 or something else that is high in both simple and complex cards you body will absorb them a lot faster during this time and help prevent soreness. Quick tips, up the stairs not the lift, park further from work, or even better ride into work if you have a place to change. There are many ways to increase your daily activity.



Well that’s it for now.

Kindred69

[Kindred69]

Just a quick tip on getting the 5 fruit and veg portions a day. A really easy way to boost your intake, without having to eat a ton of veg is real fruit milkshakes. If you use about 2/3 different fruits in the mix you take in 2/3 portions of you 5 portions a day. I use them as either part of my breakfast, or as my breakfast if im running late.

Kindred69

[shkuey]

Some quick facts to hopefully help you out.

To build muscle, lift heavy weights with few repitions.

To tone muscle, lift light weights with many repitions.

Note that heavy, light, few, and many are subjective terms. Generally whatever is heavy or light to you is what you need to do.

To burn fat, increase your heartrate and maintain for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Your body will burn everything in your system before it burns fat (this is worse for women, their body maintains fat for procreation.) You have to have an accelerated heartrate for roughly 30 minutes before any existing fat will be removed from your body. Exercise programs that claim to do this in less than 30 minutes are complete bullshit. Note that fat cells are NOT removed from your body, they are simply drained of content, but the cell remains. This is why people who have lost weight can gain it back so quickly. The ONLY way to remove a fat cell from your body is surgery.

The key to a successful exercise program (among just about everything else) is motivation.

Some good ideas to help you stay motivated:

Choose an activity you enjoy, sounds obvious but many people try to do things that worked for other people. Whatever you choose, make sure you do it for at least a half hour at a time.

Use the buddy system. You and a friend can keep each other motivated. The key here is to find somebody who is at least as motivated as you are, or they will only slow you down.

Start with something you can handle, don't push yourself to do something that is too much too soon. This will only discourage you from continuing. If you feel you need to stop then stop.

A simple test to tell if your heart rate is at an appropriate level:

If you can not talk you need to slow down.
If you can talk, but not sing, you are doing well.
If you can sing you need to speed up.

Best of luck.

[souleman]

So what happens if you are like me, and can't gain any weight?

[nietzsche]

Yeah, we abused our bodies ... BUT - here's what you can do to drop some weight with no effort at all: stop drinking liquid sugar (e.g. soft drinks, sports drinks, etc.) and liquid fat (alcohol), and you'll see results.

Also, do NOT go on a really hard-core Atkins diet - I did this 2 summers ago and ran for 1/2 hour each night and hit the weights hard for 2 more hours nightly ... cut weight, felt tremendous ... and got gout from the purines.

On the bright side, at least I can't join the Army now... :/

~N~

PS: I hate you souleman. At present, that'd be a great 'problem' for me to have!

[Digital_Jesus]

lots of sex
you can tell by this post i dont get much