<p>Rare Saturday hiking tomorrow. We’ve had shockingly cold weather, with rain and snow in the mountains, and I can’t go directly from hiking in the 70s to hiking in the 20s. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the upper 40s, so a good transition day.</p>
<p>This time of year, I don’t think the parking lots will be overflowing like on a summer Saturday. It is, however, the first weekend of deer rifle season. Not the best weekend for hiking.</p>
<p>I’m thinking I’ll do the very popular Welch-Dickey loop. Hopefully there will be enough hikers to keep the hunters (and deer) away from the trail. I hiked there in hunting season last year and didn’t hear and gunshots. Nevertheless, I’ve got all my neon clothes and hats laid out on the dining room table ready to go in the pack.</p>
<p>100% of the middle age fat guys in the first study had erectile dysfuntion. Maybe the testosterone injections helped and they started getting a little exercise… :)</p>
<p>My personal trainer kicked my butt in the basement gym again today. Saw heart rates of 85% and 86% on sets of single leg squats standing on a weight bench (10 per side). That’s with no weight, just bodyweight. Those things are brutal.</p>
<p>Also saw heart rates above 80% on sets of ten hex bar deadlifts. And, surprisingly, above 80% on sets of alternating overhead DB presses (with 30lb DBs).</p>
<p>Rounded it out with sets of 10 feet elevated inverted rows. I’m pretty good for 8. The final two are a challenge…</p>
<p>1 hr pilates, 1 hr power yoga, egg white omelet with tons of artichoke hearts in it for dinner. </p>
<p>My pilates teacher (who is also a trainer) suggested that I set a goal of a 15k by this time next year! But I’m awfully intimidated, plus I do like the other things I’m doing - power yoga, pilates, deep water running, so I’m not sure how much time I can devote. I’m still soooo slow as a runner.</p>
<p>Pizza , he’s probably a runner so he thinks you should want to run more too! On the other hand, being slow doesn’t have much to do with distance - you can run a 15k fast or slow - it’s still 15k!!! </p>
<p>You like doing all those other types of exercise - if that’s what you like, why change???</p>
<p>“Makes me think of hormone replacement therapy for women, prescribed willy nilly for decades only to turn out to cause cancer.”</p>
<p>Things are different nowadays. They don’t just give you estrogen made out of horse urine anymore. The most reputable docs measure all your hormone levels, and give you different hormones based upon what you need, biodenticals have been very effective. In fact, even if you aren’t feeling bad, a woman may want to get estrogen for it’s protective qualities against heart disease (in conjunction with progesterone). As a man, though, I would be leery about a doctor just offering me testosterone. Everything interacts. There are some clinics that specialize in this, and they should be measuring all the hormone levels and supplementing, not just testosterone. </p>
<p>I can vouch for results from testosterone (yes, women get supplements, as we age we have almost none left, but we should have a little). Went from 132 to 124 in 2 months, with no lifestyle change…attitude, confidence, mental health…way better. But I would go to the top of the line docs who specialize in bioidenticals, not a GP or someone just pushing testosterone.</p>
<p>Bus driver, do you do the pellet therapy? It’s been popular in Europe for decades but just seemed to start catching on here the last decade. For whatever reason the creator seems to have determined I need to be uselessly fertile for a while yet, but despite my general skepticism of both pharma AND the quality of supplements, bio-identical hormones would be on my list for consideration one day. I wrote an article on them about a decade ago and interviewed several women who were receiving the therapy. Prior to that, I’d been following the DHEA love affair in the supplement world, so the chemistry of it resonated with me. I’m just always afraid of what an unregulated market will do with such science…which is usually to pervert it…then again, that’s what the REGULATED market does too
(Eg unmeasured horse urine :))</p>
<p>And guys, there are bioidenticals for men too…but you may not need them because short, intense, interval exercise, lower sugar consumption and higher fat consumption all increase testosterone levels naturally So too does vitamin d supplementation.</p>
<p>Eg., iDad’s lifestyle and nutrition are optimal for t-production. So tell your personal trainer to keep kicking your butt :)</p>
<p>^btw, by higher fat consumption, we’re talking about the following healthy fats at about 60% of diet, so things like animal fat, real butter, avocado, olive oil, palm oil, nuts, etc. just to be clear. Didn’t want anyone thinking that greasy French fries would increase their t-levels :)</p>
<p>kmcmom, I think that pellet therapy is very problematic. It’s cheaper and easier, but what they put into you stays for three months. They gave you too much, oops, live with the side effects or take something else to counter it. My sister did that for awhile, loved feeling good again, but had to deal with things that I didn’t. She’s on creams and supplements now. And they can really mess that one up with men!</p>
<p>Yeah. He’s not a doctor, but I find Mark Sisson’s articles to be solidly researched. Here’s his article on things that contribute to increased testosterone production for men and women:</p>
<p>Sounds like I need a shot of testosterone! </p>
<p>Ran four miles then swam 2500m. Not running in the local marathon today for the first time in years due to bad hip. A little sad about that. I am trying to take the long view and be planning for a half in February.</p>
<p>3.5 miles outside in the rain with D’s dog. Walked a trail beside the river. I have to admit I didn’t mind the rain. Walking the dog is certainly a great opportunity for exercise and de-cluttering my mind!</p>
<p>Hilly, hard half marathon which was stupid even by my standards- a week before Monkey Marathon. I was supposed to do it really easy, but I was still filled with dread. I really need to figure out why I am such a basket case even over unimportant races. I didn’t run it easy- partly because I wanted to get it done! It had some brutal climbs and a lot of roll, but it was a beautiful course in the country. Inaugural(and fairly small) event- which always concerns me. They did a good job, though. Won age group. Felt great about the whole thing afterwards! I was both chicking and geezering a young man for the last few miles and with a 1/2 mile to go he took off. Afterwards he said it was his first half marathon! Nice job by him! Oh- 55 degrees, a little misty rain (not much) and some wind. Not a bad day at all. Wore a Nuu-Muu dress, capris and a Pearl Izumi shug thingy that is basically sleeves and shoulders. I wasn’t overdressed for me, although many had on shorts/singlets.</p>
<p>Way to go MOWC! Glad you felt great afterwards but there is nothing worse than feeling out of sorts and not confident when you have miles to go.</p>
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