Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
10601

<p>One of the reasons that strength coach Mike Boyle doesn’t bother teaching olympic lifts to most of his adult clients is that the learning curve is just too steep and there are alternatives that provide the same benefit. For example, a squat push press is going to give you much of the same benefit with no learning curve at all. Likewise, cleaning or snatching a dumbbell is a much simpler lift to learn and – for most of us – we aren’t likely to progress to needing even more weight (which is really the only reason that you have to switch to a barbell.</p>

<p>I have been hang cleaning a pair of dumbbells, ending up with the two dumbbells in front of my shoulders, hands facing each other. These give me all I can handle with a pair of 25 pound DBs, especially because I alternate sets with medicine ball overhead slams – little or no rest in between.</p>

<p>Boyle does teach a barbell clean to his college and high school athletes – and then has them use it in combination lift:</p>

<p>a) Clean the barbell up to the chest</p>

<p>b) With the barbell in that position, do a front squat.</p>

<p>c) Come up out of the front squat and push press the bar overhead.</p>

<p>That three step sequence is done as one continuous exercise. I haven’t tried it, but I imagine that it would have me panting in no time flat. Maybe I’ll try it with the dumbbells.</p>

10602

<p>Would anyone here be willing to post his/her target protein/carb/fat breakdown for a low-carb eating plan? I’ve almost completely eliminated “bad” carbs - sugar and white flour - but my daily carb total is never much below 50%, and I have a hard time getting my protein level even as high as 20%. I’m wondering whether my current breakdown (carbs/protein/fat: 50/20/30) is OK or should I be trying to adjust it.</p>

<p>A suggestion for learning “form” - years ago, when I was doing ballet intensely, I often had to learn a new step. Before working on it, I would need to “hard-wire” it - get my muscles to automatically execute a sequence of movements, often with time contraints (before I landed from a jump). I learned by accident that “hardwiring” was much faster and easier if I closed my eyes. Somehow this freed some brain capacity to learn sequences of movements.</p>

10603

<p>While not a “specific” target, iDad had this great post about eating for body type that might have some useful information. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12777411-post10057.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12777411-post10057.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Over the past 18 months, I think I have been at 50/30/20. Out of curiosity, I took a Jillian Michaels quiz which recommended around 60 percent of my diet come from carbs. About 80% of my diet came from carbs previously (by my estimation) but it included what I now think of as treat items (donuts, coffeecake) that thankfully I no longer have a taste for.</p>

<p>Edited to add: Federer has been bounced!</p>

10604

<p>I am at 59 fat/23 carbs/18 protein so far today. In general, I’m around 50/25/25 though the carbs and protein vary +/- 5% and the fat can too.</p>

10605

<p>I track my food using Weight Watchers (online)–so I’m counting points and not calories or protein or carbs. Is Live Strong what you use to keep track of carbs/protein/fat? There are some foods where I know the percentages just from looking at the labels, but the WW tracking is limited.</p>

10606

<p>I use LiveStrong to track calories and calorie types.</p>

<p>Ran my “fast” one mile in 9:01. My target was 9:20 so I ran at a relaxed pace for the first half not wanting to run out of gas. Halfway, I started running faster and came up with that time. I wasn’t particularly tired or stressed at the end. I’m actually a lot more tired after a long run. So I need to workout a little harder here.</p>

<p>Did the farmers walk thing with 45 pound dumbbells too.</p>

10607

<p>Interesting idad post, sabaray. Thanks for looking it up and linking to it. </p>

<p>Looks like I should increase protein, decrease carbs, and maybe decrease fat. I’m definitely not a long skinny person any more, although I was for most of my life.</p>

10608

<p>So, I was out and about and stopped by a different TJ MAXX on the way home. Gold mine. They must not have as many tech gear customers as my usual store. They had these $5.99 Champion C9 tech t-shirts in every color. These are nice shirts (much nicer than the Nike training T equivalent. So, for a grand total of $18, I now have one in black, one in navy, and one in red. At that price, why not have enough to wear a fresh one for every workout?</p>

<p>I picked up another of the adidas shirts, this one in gray. I’ve decided that there is no point in buying regular cotton t’s in my new size since tech t’s (for working out) and izod polos (for casual wear) are both cheaper than the nice LL Bean cotton t-shirts.</p>

<p>But, the real find were my favorite Nike running shorts. </p>

<p>[Nike</a> 7" Essential Swift Short - Men’s - Running - Clothing - Anthracite/Chlorine Blue](<a href=“http://www.footlocker.com/product/model:151172/sku:85094062/nike-7-essential-swift-short-mens/anthracite/chlorine-blue/&SID=8732#sku=85094060]Nike”>http://www.footlocker.com/product/model:151172/sku:85094062/nike-7-essential-swift-short-mens/anthracite/chlorine-blue/&SID=8732#sku=85094060)</p>

<p>Really nice material, could even be worn out in public as regular shorts. 7 inch inseam, two front pockets. I’ve now found four pair in MEDIUM: two black/black, one obsidian navy, and one anthracite gray. They also had them in the 5-inch version sans pockets. I’ve been wearing a couple pair of these in LARGE for a while and they are terrific. I didn’t think I’d find them in MED. $14.99 each.</p>

10609

<p>While my knee isn’t screaming at me it is twice the size of the other one…sigh…
Anyway I stayed home today and just worked on my tan. :slight_smile: I know I need to go back to the dr. after the wedding in August. No time right now. Weight is still hanging close to that new low…grrrrr</p>

10610

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<p>Darn, nMinn. I know this thing has to be driving you nuts. I guess the good news is that it doesn’t hurt. I don’t know a darn thing about the proper way to do it, but I’m guessing you are going to have to start doing the ol’ “ice it after exercise” routine like sore football players have to do.</p>

10611

<p>She lives in Minnesota! She should do an ice bath in one of those lakes! The knee sounds awful.</p>

<p>Good work on the new shirts, iDad!</p>

10612

<p>NYMom:</p>

<p>I don’t think there is any “right” answer on the amount of carbs (or anything else). Generally speaking, a “low carb” approach could be anywhere from the totally restrictive Atkins induction phase (5% carbs) to a fairly high 40% carbs. Atkins suggests that many people end up in the 80 to 100 g per day range. That’s about where I’ve fallen out. That’s about 25% of my calories, but it could be higher if your over all calories are lower.</p>

<p>There are two approaches:</p>

<p>a) Go hard core and cut out all carbs to get started and then start adding carbs back in to find the point where you are no longer losing weight at the desired rate. Obviously, you would add the good carbs (veggies, moderate fruit, etc.) back in first.</p>

<p>b) Gradually cut back more and more carbs until you find the point at which you are losing at the desired rate. Here, you would cut the bad carbs in order: sugar water, then desserts, then junk carbs (chips, etc.), then bread. Finally you would take a look at pasta, rice, potatoes, starches, and cereals and see where you can cut back.</p>

<p>In either case, it’s just a matter of finding the level that works for you. What works for me probably won’t be your exact number. Which approach you folllow really depends on how desperately you need to lose weight. If someone is 400 pounds with serious health issues, then the hard core induction phase is probably warranted to get things rollling quickly. On the other hand, something pretty close to option b) worked well for me. I just cut all the “eating like a moron” carbs (Pepsi, Snapple, Doritos, red twizzlers, sour gummy worms, Pringles, french toast/Vermont maple syrup midnight snacks) and then cut all potatoes and rice, and then limited bread/pasta/pizza to one meal per week. At that point, I was happy with the pace of weight loss and just kept rollling with it. I’ve actually scaled back carbs a little bit more in recent months, largely by deciding that there is simply no reason to keep eating sugar. So I cut the occasional candy treat and the Italian ices for dessert. I now have fruit for late-night desert – a granny smith apple, or a bowl of strawberries, or a bowl of blackberries. Those now seem inredibly sweet to me. I’ve switched my snacking to dry roasted peanuts or pistachios – high calorie, but low carb.</p>

10613

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<p>Another mental game, positive reinforcement for becoming a (formerly) fat guy. I’m really surprised at how I’ve gone a complete 180. Last year, I always wanted clothes that were baggy and loose. Now, I want shirts to be trim. My closet full of “LARGE” shirts were starting to really annoy me because they were all falling off me. I couldn’t stand the cut of the adidas shirts last year. Now, it’s perfect.</p>

<p>It does kill me to have to buy new izods. I was just last fall when I could start wearing the nice LARGE ones I’ve collected over the years. But, everytime I put one on, the shoulders are hanging down to my elbows.</p>

<p>Rachel Cosgrove talks about the transformation that takes place when a woman starts to think of herself as a “fit” individual and wearing “fit” clothes. I am experiencing exactly the same thing. The workouts are a little better when I’m wearing a nice trim-fit workout shirt.</p>

10614

<p>Speaking of workouts, I had a great workout this afternoon. Same as Monday, but everything felt a little stronger. The 20 minutes of iPod nazi core work is really intense. My abs and obliques were burning at times. It’s three sets of six core exercises, with 15 seconds between exercises. The easiest of the six is 30 seconds of plank on the stabilty ball, that is not exactly a walk int he park. I was really proud that I did 8 of the pushups while simulteanously rollng the stabilty ball in and back out. I could only do 5 on Monday. But, I was able to keep pace with the nazi and do all the exercises at least decently well.</p>

<p>In the strength supersets, I did 12 and 10 TRX pushups and two good sets of single leg deadlift without wobbling or losing my balance. The one-leg drills are starting to pay off.</p>

10615

<p>Thank you for the information, idad. I seem to be following your #b, eliminating the bad carbs and then cutting into the good carbs. I’m already almost completely off sugar and white flour, and other obvious junky foods. The only bread I am eating these days is Ezekiel bread and my home-made banana bread (lots of eggs, buttermilk, minimal sugar, whole-wheat flour). I don’t think I could do the sudden almost-no-carb thing, I think I’d be sick. I’m actually losing now, on 50% carbs, faster than I want to or should (5 lbs in 2 weeks, when I want to lose 1 lb/week), but I imagine this rate will slow. I’d like to further reduce the carbs, and I suspect that this will be necessary at some point in order to continue losing weight. I doubt that I’ll go as low as 25%, but who knows?</p>

<p>It’s great that you are finding bargains on clothes in your current, hard-won, size! Enjoy wearing them!</p>

10616

<p>“If It’s Important, Do it Every Day” my new post on the blog…</p>

10617

<p>Got curious: so my averages for the last 9 days: 41% fat, 22% protein, 36% carb. I’ve only gone over 50% on fat once - it was on a low calorie day overall. My average calories would have been well under my goal if I hadn’t gone wine-tasting and gallery hopping last Saturday. I did get more than average exercise at least. I seem to eat a little over 100g of carbs most days.</p>

10618

<p>Ran 5.2 miles after running lots of errands, then fixed a quick dinner: smoked salmon and steamed broccolini. Dessert will be watermelon and fresh figs. Yumm.</p>

10619

<p>Okay, lots of good info to process by everyone.</p>

<p>interesteddad: I suspect you are quite correct in your analysis of the olympic lifting techniques. So, on the one hand, it is gratifying to know that this is something that most people would struggle with, on the other hand, it kind of makes me want to master it in a contrarian, stubborn way. Good to know that I could always just do it with dumbbells instead.</p>

<p>MOWC - thanks for the detailed response, I actually really enjoy hearing everyone’s rationale and methods. I love my Garmin, too and use Training Peaks to log my runs and workouts. I know you frequent a bunch of running boards and mainly deal with more elite type runners, but I would be interested to know your thoughts on the Galloway walk/run method? Since I am so far away from any PRing and timing is not an issue, I was thinking that it might be a good way to start building a base. Do you know anyone that has trained the Galloway way?</p>

<p>Also I know idad is starting to venture into runner territory, I was thinking this might be a good way for him to log some miles, because I TOTALLY see some kind of race in his future. </p>

<p>Hoping NMinn’s knee improves. Nothing more frustrating than injury set backs.</p>

10620

<p>CJaneRead, give this workout a try. This is for at the end to complete the workout. Do whatever strength you feel like complements it…</p>

<p>TABATA:</p>

<p>6 rounds of Front Squat
6 rounds of Kettlebell Swings</p>

<p>TABATA is done with 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest. You do as many reps as possible in each 20 second work period…</p>