Do you work out?

[hobbsyoyo]

Is building muscle usefull in anything?
I mean if you arent a wrestler

In my case, weak core muscles directly contribute to my sciatica. When I throw out my back, I'm in excruciating pain with a lot of weakness and numbness. It's completely incapacitating. If I want to avoid more episodes, I need to strengthen my core and lose weight. If I can build some muscles on top of that, that's not bad. It also makes me feel good and objectively look better. I don't see a downside though it can be boring. Thankfully cannabis and dope music are fully legal in California so I get by.

 

[Leifmk]

delaying or reducing the effects of aging, etc, etc, etc.

Observe, for example, this octogenarian gentleman:

Imagine what his general quality of life might be compared to his peers, at an age when many struggle to even walk.

 

[Leifmk]

Let's be clear : there is no practical reason to forbid water while exercicing.

Yeah, it was pretty dumb and rooted in a kind of humble-macho wannabe bushido attitude. In later years when I went back to karate after a lengthy hiatus, this sort of thing was no longer common.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Observe, for example, this octogenarian gentleman:

Imagine what his general quality of life might be compared to his peers, at an age when many struggle to even walk.

This guy is 10 years younger only.

I definitely want to do some powerlifting and such and mock the youngsters when I become an oldster. I have a principle of disc protrusion in the lumbar zone though. It may be contraindicated.

 

[BenitoChavez]

I break the crunches into sets of 50 and the push-ups into sets of 10.

250 crunches is actually not enough. My arms have been feeling like noodles but I barely feel any burn in my abs at all. I did 350 crunches this morning and kept doing them after that without counting until I felt too exhausted to do any more, but I did fewer push-ups than last time because my arms just couldn't lift my body after about 30.

You must have amazing abs if 350 doesn't get you tired.

You might want to try more a more difficult exercise that will tire you out sooner. I'm fond of planks since there are all sorts of little variations that can make it a lot harder.

 

[civvver]

I've done 20-30 minutes on an elliptical machine every day since new year. Go me. I did bench, fly, lat pull down, seated row, arm curl and arm press weight machines Saturday. Again, I am a winner.

 

[The_J]

Watching the old guys in the vids... I need to increase my weights, definitely.

 

[Lexicus]

You must have amazing abs if 350 doesn't get you tired.

I got pretty tired this morning after only 150! Kept going to 350 again though.

You might want to try more a more difficult exercise that will tire you out sooner. I'm fond of planks since there are all sorts of little variations that can make it a lot harder.

Yeah, I've been thinking about this. The main problem is that I just get really bored really fast doing planks. Weird I know since crunches aren't exactly fun but something about the repetition makes it easier than just holding myself still.

Ok, so are you posting a bathroom selfie or what.

I've never taken a selfie in my life

 

[Leifmk]

Crunches and sit-ups are bad exercises. Poor efficiency, and not good for your spinal health, especially since you have to do so very many of them to get any effect. Better alternatives include ab rollouts, hanging leg raises, etc.

 

[civvver]

Yesterday I ate almost no carbs, maybe 30 total between some brussel sprouts and broccoli and meatloaf. I didn't get to exercise until 9pm when I did 45 minutes on the elliptical at a pretty good clip, got my heart rate up for sure with moderate resistance level. Drank a lot of water after and everything was fine, but I got a headache around 11 so I went to bed, though that's about my normal bed time anyway, but I woke up at 1am feeling like I was going to pass out. So I went and drank a little gatorade, like four ounces, and ate a handful of crackers and then I was fine.

So I'm trying to go low carb for the new year not solely as a diet but like a lifestyle change. Basically no grains, potatoes or sugar, though I'll eat beans, fruit and oatmeal very occasionally, and I'm still eating milk products with milk sugar in it like yogurt and milk, and I don't check the carbs in any vegetables. If it's a vegetable I eat it. But during a workout I think maybe my blood sugar got too low. Is that possible? Should I eat like some nuts before or something? Are fat and protein enough to sustain blood sugar levels during exercise? I'm not running marathons for crying out loud.

 

[BenitoChavez]

But during a workout I think maybe my blood sugar got too low. Is that possible?

It's definitely possible. 30g of carbs a day is very low and carbs are your body's primary energy source. Burning fat is slower/less efficient and if that's all you have for energy it can cause issues. Eating a few more carbs, especially an hour or two before your workout might help.

 

[REDY]

Is building muscle usefull in anything?
I mean if you arent a wrestler

For me its quite tricky question. I just feel good with some exercising. I feel confidence, when I cant exercise I feel chubby even when its not visible.

On the other hand, I think the usage of anything lowers its endurance. Why would be a body an excepton? I know number of friends who injured themselves for long time because working out. Sure, some because they took too much and maybe they needed to learn more or have a good trainer. I know that really fat people survived accident and its said thats just because their fat reserve. Muscles need more energy and fat is good reserve of energy. But fat people also get to accidents more likely...

So for me its really just about feeling good, getting stronger and more agile. Not about getting muscles. BTW wrestling is also more about arts than about muscles. I am not saying thats absolute, just my opinion backed by some martial arts experience.

Walking is maybe best option for you.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

On the other hand, I think the usage of anything lowers its endurance. Why would be a body an excepton?

But a body can regenerate itself with new cells while an object can't. For instance running makes your legs stronger because being a pretty violent activity it causes "micro wounds" destroying the weakest points in your legs which are replaced with new cells and tissues, stronger and more flexible. So, you end having younger legs in some way. It is as restoring a house, where you bring down ruinous walls and structures and replace them with new bricks.

Avoiding lessions and bad habits which can damage your tissues badly (this time in a "macroscopic" way) and beyond repair is the key.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I am considering getting a rowing machine. Is it recommendable if you have back issues?

 

[Birdjaguar]

@Bootstoots The simplest and easiest beginning to increase your exercise is walking. All you need is a sidewalk or park. 20-30 minutes at a time. Try twice a week and then go for three or four. That is all you need. Go for a brisk pace. I can do a mile in 20 minutes and keep that up. While walking you can listen to stories or music; people watch; plan your day or projects. No experience or memberships required. You can even vary the the days you walk if you like. And the path taken. On Mondays you walk this way and on Thursdays you walk that way.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I am considering getting a rowing machine. Is it recommendable if you have back issues?

A cursory look at google indicated it's probably not a good idea but it wasn't definitive, more suggestive.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

this is my new exercise routine starting next week

1 jog around for a few minutes
2 do jumping jacks
3 extensive dynamic stretching inbetween all the hopping
4 warm up the body with crunches and pushups, (looking for more free body exercises that have an easy form/are hard to screw up)
5 weight exercises: deadlifts, squats, bench press, others that change depending on what region on my body I want to focus on
6 a little more cardio
7 plank for as long as my body allows it
8 extensive static stretching
9 balance exercise, blind on one leg, for as long as I can manage
10 cooldown
11 short meditation

Oh.
Then it's simple : that's just not enough. By far.
You can't get anything if you just do two sets (especially if that's the only exercize you do on this muscular group). You need to have a higher number of sets, and you should tailor them to what you want to train (as described in the previous post).

As a rule of thumb, you can consider that sessions under 20 mn are useless, and they start to get useful when they goes beyond 30 to 45 mn (1h to 1h30 is ideal). The body needs a time of warm-up before it actually enters "active mode", and strength training being too short means that you can't correctly tire your muscle for them to grow (either it's at an adequate intensity and they don't have time to get tired, or it's excessively intense and you just harm them).
It's better to train for 1h twice a week than 3h spread around in chunks of 15 mn.

I would love to see some sources on that. most of my scientific research shows a consensus that (weight) exercise is most effective if it is done for at least 45 minutes, and up to 90 or more, but I've never seen any paper that claims that exercise sessions less than 20 minutes are useless. especially wrt cardiovascular exercise, tho I think that isn't what you're talking about, just reminding you that exercise is not limited to picking up heavy metal and putting it back down. I also feel like warm-ups are heavily underappreciate, and for me at least 50% of my workout is warmup/cooldown. maybe you can critique my exercise plan, too, if you have the time? curious to see what you think.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

He meant that working out less than 20 minutes is useless. I stated I only do 20 reps per machine, he took that to mean I'm in and out of the gym in 15-20 minutes. He's not that far off, I only work out 30-45 minutes in the gym typically. That was enough to add some muscle mass but I don't think it'll turn me into a walking bicep. That's not what I'm going for either, I just want to lose weight mostly.



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Does anyone have an opinion on using weight machines instead of free weights? I really don't like free weights as they are bigger hassle to set up and tear down than using a machine. I also feel form is much more important because if you have to pay attention to it whereas with machines, just sitting up straight and maintaining contact with the seat is all you have to do.

The one downside is that certain machines are very popular. A gym might have 3 or 4 benches (or more) for free weights but only a single bicep or bench press machine - and those are super popular so there's usually an informal queue of a couple or 3 people waiting to use them.

Especially annoying is when a lifter uses the bench press machine as 'home base' and leaves all their stuff strewn over the machine while they walk away to use a different machine between bench press reps.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I just made a dumb typo. I am not convinced at all that exercise below the 20 minutes mark is somehow rendered useless, that doesn't compute. I'm sure if you do a side-by-side comparison between a senior that does 20 minutes of light cardio and one that does 0, there will be a world's difference, huge difference. "low efficiency" doesn't mean useless, is what i am getting at. every bit counts.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Gotcha. I would tend to agree but as I said, I also don't want to massively bulk up.